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<‘THE SKY DARKENED, THE ^ 1 ^ WAS STIFLING.”— Page 144. 




t 





THE 


TALKING HANDKERCHIEF 

AND OTHER STORIES 



“the boy travellers,” “the young nimrods,” “a close 
SHAVE,” “the lost ARMY,” ETC. 


ILLUSTRATED BY 

JOHN HENDERSON GARNSEY 



ST. PAUL 

The Price-McGill Company 

455-473 CEDAR STREET 



Copyrighted 1893 

BY 

THE PRICE-McGILL CO 



PRINTED AND PLA.TED BX 

THE PRICE-McGILL COMPANY 

6T. PATTL, MINN. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

-^he Talking Handkerchief, 9 

-F rozen to An Ice-floe, ------- - 37 

VCaptured by Cannibals, 49 

In a Shark’s Mouth, 65 

^eset by Chinese Pirates, 77 

-jugglers of The Orient, - - _ - - _ 39 

- 'The Serfs Revenge, 105 

^he Head-hunters of Borneo, 119 

^ Fight with a Tiger, - - - 133 

^^aught in a Typhoon, 141 

phased by Wolves, --. 151 

^etrayed by a Mirage, 169 

^^o the Great Wall of China, - - - - - - - 181 

'^A Corroboree in Australia, 195 

Treed by an Elephant, 209 

Stopped by Russian Robbers, 221 

A Battle with a Kangaroo, 235 

A Russian Elopement, 245 

^ 'Phased by Malay Pirates, 259 

An Exile’s Escape from Siberia, 271 

^::Oriental Thieves, 285 

yK. Chemical Detective, 297 



7^. 



¥ \ 


• l M • - J 

t. ♦?' 




A? •- M/T • ’ - 5 -.ri 


4 


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"■ ■' • ' r>>*'..' 



, 7^ 

^ y _ i» 


M ’’V^ '* ^->2?-^ 

^h ^ \ 




illustrations. 


“The sky darkened, the air was stifling,” - - Frontispiece 

“John,” Page 12 

A Sampan, “14 

John was on his knees at the door, - - - “21 

The“Lowdah,” “27 

“ The cook pounded on the door,” - - - - “30 

“The Talking Handkerchief,” “33 

“I was frozen fast to the floe,” . . . . “46 

“I was in the middle of a group of natives,” - - “53 

“For three days I was kept a close prisoner,” - “ 56 

“ I flung my arms wildly about,” . . - - ” 59 

“One of them had me by the throat,” - - - “87 

Dolaeff * * * felled him to the ground, - - “108 

“ The Emperor glanced at it and passed on,” - “ 116 

A head-hunter in full dress, - - - - • ‘‘ 121 

“Jack jumped on the fellow and strangled him,” - “ 130 

“The tiger raised its head,” 138 

“ I was overboard in a typhoon once,” - - - “ 14'7 

“ I clung with desperation,” “ H'S 

“ The young man sprang and was instantly torn in 

pieces,” “ 1^^ 


ILLUSTRATION^. 


viil 

“ The Driver,” - - Page 161 

“Wolf Bait,” “163 

“ One wolf jumped at the sleigh,” _ _ . . “ 166 

. “The entrance to a roadside inn,” - - - - “ 187 

“A part of the great wall,” “ 192 

The foremost of the men raised their weapons to 

' strike, “ igg 

Away sailed the rocket, - - . _ . “ 206 

“ One night I fired at an elephant,” - - - . “ 214 

Siberian post horses, “ 229 

Carl, “251 

The loving couple became husband and wife, - “ 255 

“The broken glass cut their feet and they fell,” - “ 264 

An escaped convict, “ 273 

“ I came face to face with the starost,” - - - “278 

The Captain, 283 

The Captain, - “ 287 

Stealing a sheet, “ 291 

“The body was headless,” - “ 294 

Finding the hose, . “ 310 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


HOEVER has lived any length 
of time in China, and given 
attention to the manners and 
eustoms of the pirates that 
infest the navigable waters 
along the eoast, has a whole- 
some dread of falling into their hands. To be 
taken by Chinese pirates is nearly always equiva- 
lent to a death-warrant, and not infrequently to 
death by torture. The Chinese free-booters hate 
the European as eordially as they are despised by 
him, and when he falls into their power they arenot 
slow to make their feelings manifest. In the early 
part of the present eentury there were more than 
five hundred piratieal junks on the eoast of 
Kwang-Tung alone; not only did they eapture 
vessels on the water, but they extended their 
operations to the land, and plundered towns and 
villages in great number. As long as the eoolie 
trade flourished, the pirates were eneouraged to 
eontinue their enterprises, sinee they found a mar- 
ket at Macao for many of the prisoners taken in 



10 


THE TALKtN(j HANDKERCHIEF. 


their incursions on shore, or among the junhg 
afloat. The suppression of the coolie traffic 
destroyed one of the sources of piratical revenue, 
and since the purchase or construction of steam 
gun-boats by the Chinese government the marau- 
ders are at a disadvantage, owing to the ease with 
which they can be pursued and overtaken. But 
though greatly reduced in numbers, the piratical 
junks are yet sufficiently numerous to render the 
navigation of the bays and channels on the coast 
of Kwang-Tung and adjacent provinces far from 
safe. 

One of the tales that was told me in China I will 
here repeat; for convenience - of narration I will 
give it in the first person singular, and singular 
enough it is to the American who has never seen 
Asia. 

Familiarity with the manners and customs of 
Chinese sailors during a residence ^of several years 
in the southern provinces had naturally made me 
reluctant to travel on native vessels, however 
peaceful might be the appearance of things in gen- 
eral. Judge, then, of my feelings when the chief of 
our house at Swatow called me into the private 
office one afternoon, and said he wished me to 
leave in an hour for Hong Kong. 

“Certainly,” I replied; “I can be ready in half 
that time. But how am I to go ? There is no 
steamer for a week at least.” 

“Quite right,” he answered; “I’m sorry there is 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 11 

none, as the business demands immediate atten- 
tion. I wish there was a steamer to carry you 
down the coast, and the whole work could be 
finished in a day or two.” 

After a slight pause he added : “I sent our com- 
prador to find a junk, and make arrangements 
for your passage. He came back a few minutes 
ago, and said he had settled it with the lowdah 
(captain) of a junk that was just getting up 
anchor for Hong-Kong. It will take them an 
hour at least to hoist the anchor, and so you have 
that time to get on board with your servant and 
baggage.” 

Then he gave me my instructions relative to the 
business I was to look after: as they have no 
bearing upon my adventure with the pirates, I 
shall not say what they were. It is about a hun- 
dred and fifty miles from Swatow to Hong-Kong, 
and as the northeast monsoon was blowing down 
the coast — it was then the middle of October — the 
junk could run steadily before the wind, and 
ought to make Hong-Kong by the second morn- 
ing after her departure. If all went well, she 
would be through the Ly-ee-moon pass by day- 
light, and at anchor in the harbor an hour later. 
By nine o’clock I should be at breakfast with some 
old friends on Queen’s Road, within stone’s-throw 
of the Clock Tower, and at ten o’clock would 
present myself at the office of Jardine, Matheson 


12 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEI^. 


& Company, for the transaction of the business 
which carried me away from Swatow. 

I sent for John, my servant. John was not his 
Christian name; in fact he was a “heathen 
Chinee,” and there was nothing Christian about 
him, in name or anything else. I always made it 
a rule to name my servant “John,” without the 
least regard to the outlandish appellation he bore 
on entering my service. It saved an effort of the 
memory, and efforts of that sort are worth some- 
thing in China, where you have half a world 
between you and your native land. 

“John,” I said, “my go Hong Kong .side, fai- 
tee ” — I am going to Hong-Kong immediately. 

“Can do,” he responded. 

“My makee alio plopa.” 

“Can do” is a general 
reply, meaning “Yes,” or 
“All right,” and the rest of 
the answer was to the effect 
that he would attend to the 
preparations for depar- 
ture. 

It seemed that he had 
already been informed of 
the intended journey by the 
comprador, and had my 
baggage almost ready when 
I summoned him. Your 
Chinese or Japanese servant is one of the most 



THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


13 


systematic beings in the world. When you have 
once shown him what you wish to carry on a 
journey, he never forgets, and on the next occasion 
he will put up precisely the same articles, unless 
you instruct him to the contrary. He carries his 
system to absurdity sometimes, and consequently 
must be watched. If you make a trip of a couple 
of days this week, and tell him what you want, 
he will put everything in place according to 
instructions. Next week you may be starting for 
London or New York, and when you inform him 
of your intention he will provide exactly the same 
things that he did for the absence of forty-eight 
hours. To him London and Ning-Po, New York 
and Foo-Chow, are “allee samee,” and the only 
thought in his mind is that you are going on a 
journey, and want a proper supply of under and 
outer clothing for the daily adornment of your 
person. 

A sampan, or native rowboat, carried us to the 
junk, which was slowly dropping down with the 
tide, and getting her mat sails into position for 
catching the wind. She forged through the water 
like a chip in a basin of molasses, and her bluff 
bows were in marked contrast to thfe sharp prow 
of an American tea ship that was moored in the 
harbor, and busily occupied with the reception of 
a cargo destined for consumption on the tables of 
Yankee-land. We came up to the junk directly 
under her bows, and I thought her great staring 


14 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


eye winked at me as though it knew I was a 
stranger to be taken in. As the lowdah saw us 
coming, he ordered a ladder thrown over the side, 
and we scrambled on board. My baggage (which 
included two boxes of silver I was to deliver in 
Hong-Kong) was passed up from the sampan and 
carefully watched by John till it was safe in the 



roomy cabin reserved for me at the stern of the 
junk. The comprador had accompanied us, and 
as soon as I was safe on board he cast off the line 
that held the sampan to the side of the junk, and 
with the wave of his hand in the direction of 
Hong-Kong, ejaculated, “Good wind! good 
water!” — the pidj in-English equivalent of “Bon 
voyage I'' or “Good-luck to you! ” 

I said the captain ordered a ladder thrown to 
me, a politeness that was hardly necessary, as the 
sides of the junk amidships were only a few feet 
above the water, and there were several ropes 
trailing over the side in the confusion consequent 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


15 


Upon departure from port. As soon as I reached 
the deck I looked around to see if there were any 
more captains than the one I have mentioned. I 
found that the junk had two other commanders, 
or at all events two men whose rights were nearly 
equal to those of the lowdah. It happened in this 
way: 

A Chinese ship is divided into compartments, 
and it seems that the plan of building ships 
in the manner greatly vaunted by modern nav- 
igators was invented in China centuries ago. 
Marco Polo describes the compartment ships of 
the inhabitants of Cathay as he found them 
(about A. D. 1250), but it was not until nearly 
the middle of the present century that the idea 
was adopted by European shipwrights. 

The compartments in a Chinese junk when she is 
on a peaceful voyage are let out to individuals in 
the same way that the rooms on a passenger ship 
are reserved for those who have hired them. But 
there is this difference in the condition of things, 
that while the passenger on the European steam- 
ship has nothing to do with the management of 
the craft, the merchant who has hired a compart- 
ment on a Chinese junk has a voice in her naviga- 
tion. The junk on which I had embarked was 
built in six compartments ; two of these had been 
let out to one man and two to another, while the 
remainder were “full of emptiness,” as a Hiber- 
nian might say. The consequence was that there 


16 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


were two taipans (bosses) in addition to the low- 
dah, or regular eaptain, and my servant soon 
found out that the taipans and lowdah were old 
aequaintanees and friends, and there was a strong 
suspicion that the taipans were part owners. But 
they seemed to leave the management of the craft 
to the lowdah, as they stood idly about, and made 
no interference with his orders. 

The open harbor of Swatow favored our 
departure, and in less than two hours after leav- 
ing our anchor- 
age we were feel- 
ing the influence 
of the monsoon, 
though it was a 
good deal broken 
by the islands of 
Namoa and Tong- 
Yung. Our course 
was for Breaker 
Point, a notable 
headland on this 
part of the coast, and known to the Chinese as 
Tong- Lae; turning this headland in safety, we 
should have nearly a straight road to Hong- 
Kong, as the general trend of the coast is to the 
southwest, and almost in the track of the mon- 
soon, which blows down the coast from Septem- 
ber till March. Even a Chinese junk may do some 
yery fair sailing with the monsoon at her heels — 



THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


17 


at least fair for a junk. When all the reefs were 
shaken out of our sails we dashed gallantly along 
at nearly five miles an hour. 

Left to myself and my cigar, I “took stock” of 
things around me, and tried to be comfortable. 
John was a good cook, as well as boy-of-all-work, 
and I knew he would attend to my dinner with- 
out special instructions. The deck was covered 
with bales of merchandise, boxes, tubs, and other 
odds and ends; there were rollers or windlasses 
for hoisting purposes; and there were coils and 
heaps of ropes that appeared in the most inextri- 
cable confusion. The junk carried four brass guns, 
resembling the sort we call carronades more than 
anything else; their carriages were hewn from 
single blocks of wood, and mounted on clumsy 
trucks, and so many things were piled about the 
guns that their use in an emergency would be 
impossible. But as soon as we were fairly out of 
the harbor, and their services were not needed for 
manipulating the sails, the men were set to work 
at clearing up the rubbish and bringing order out 
of the confusion. The boxes and their kindred 
soon disappeared into the holds, the ropes were 
coiled away, and the rubbish around the guns 
was removed. Custom is the same in many things 
the world over, and as I looked at the process of 
clearing up on board this Chinese junk, I was 
forcibly reminded of similar performances on ships 
in European or American waters, 


18 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


The people of the junk attended to their own 
affairs, and I looked after mine. John held con- 
ference with the marine cook, and in due time the 
result of their joint labors appeared in my room 
at the stern. For the emergencies of sudden jour- 
neys we always kept a box filled with canned 
meats and vegetables, a plum-pudding or two, 
various spices, peppers and sauces, and a service 
of table-ware; another case contained wines and 
stronger beverages; and if the journey was at all 
likely to be prolonged and provisions scarce, the 
boxes were doubled or multiplied. The provision 
and wine chcvsts had not been forgotten. With 
the boiled rice supplied by the junk’s cook, added 
to the contents of a tin can of American origin, I 
had a capital curry of chicken, which made the 
basis of my dinner. Blessings on the inventor of 
canned provisions ! They have softened the asper- 
ities of travel in outlandish countries more than 
any of you stay-at-homers can imagine. 

Dinner was served in my cabin — a room about 
ten feet square, directly under the position occu- 
pied by the man who steered the junk; it was 
entered by a door from the deck, and at the rear 
there was a good-sized window which looked 
upon the water. The window was unusually 
wide for China, but destitute of glass, its place 
being supplied by a roll of matting, and with an 
outside protection of lattice blinds. The door 
was of solid plank at least two inches thick, and 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


19 


hung upon wooden hinges ; it could be fastened by 
bolts, also of wood; and altogether my lodging- 
place was by no means uncomfortable. My bag- 
gage was piled close to the door and filled the 
space on each side of it, and after dinner I ordered 
John to sling my hammock by the window so 
that I could enjoy my cigar in the breeze that was 
blowing the junk along to her destination. It was 
rather cool for comfort, but my overcoat and 
blankets soon made everything all right, and I 
had nothing to complain of 

Until we rounded Breaker Point I had a view of 
the receding coast, but as soon as we turned that 
headland there was only the sea within the range 
of my vision. There were a few junks in sight, 
one of them sailing in our direction. A foreign 
bark, showing no flag, so that I could only con- 
jecture her nationality, was beating northward, 
evidently bound for Amoy. I watched her for 
some time, indulging in fancies of the far-off land 
whence she came, and recalling the days of my 
youth and early manhood. By and by night came 
upon us, and after a second cigar and a cup ot 
tea, I told John to close the window and get my 
bed ready. 

I slept fairly well through the night in spite of 
the occasional rattling of the rigging and its 
attachments, the noise of the steersman over my 
head, and the creaking of the great rudder as it 
swung on its ponderous bearings. My bed was 


20 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


made on a “Canton chair,” a sort of sofa or 
lounge of rattan, much affected by the foreigner in 
Catha3L 

John saw me safely in bed, and was about to 
hunt a sleeping-place elsewhere, when it occurred to 
me that I might want him during the night, and I 
wouldn’t know where to find him. So I told him 
to spread his mat and quilt on the floor of the 
room close to the door, and he would thus save us 
from intrusion, and be handy in case his services 
were required. He obeyed somewhat reluctantly, 
as he probably had expectations of gossip, and 
probably an hour or two of gambling with the 
crew of the junk: the Chinese are inveterate gam- 
blers, and my servant was not one of the excep- 
tions that are said to prove a rule. Whether he 
was asleep before me or not I cannot say, as he did 
not move a muscle after lying down, and his 
breath was as noiseless as that of a mouse. I 
called him once in the night for a glass of water (I 
am not quite sure as to the exact nature of the 
liquid) and he was at my side in a moment to fill 
my order — and glass. He soon lay down again as 
quietly as before, and I heard no more of him till 
daylight. He was the type of a good servant, 
with the ear of a fox, the eye of a hawk, and the 
foot of a cat. 

It was just fairly daybreak, when I was awak- 
ened by a commotion on deck. There was a run- 
ning to and fro, considerable shouting in the 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


21 


native lingo, which I couldn’t understand, a pull- 
ing at the ropes, and more than the usual creaking 



JOHN WAS ON HIS KNEES AT THE DOOR. 


of the rudder, as though the junk’s course was 
being changed. For a few minutes I thought noth- 


22 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


ing of it, and then it occurred to me that after 
passing Breaker Point we had almost a straight 
course for Hong-Kong, and there was no occa- 
sion for deviation from it. The monsoon was a 
sure thing at that season of the year, and there 
was no likelihood that the wind had changed 
enough to require the junk to go about. I won- 
dered what it meant, and as I did so I heard a 
slight rustling near the door. 

Looking around, I perceived by the dim light 
which struggled through the mat curtain that 
John was on his knees, peering through a crack in 
the door casing, and apparentl^^ a good deal inter- 
ested in what was going on outside. 

“John!” said I, gently, but without eliciting a 
reply. 

I repeated the call in a louder voice. To my sur- 
prise he gave a low “Hist!” and motioned with 
his hand in my direction, without offering to 
move. 

I was on my feet in an instant, and as I rose he 
again motioned me to silence. Convinced that some- 
thing unusual was going on, and with a sense of 
impending danger, I obeyed the mandate, and sat 
down on the edge of the chair. 

Perhaps five minutes passed in this way — it 
seemed a hundred times as long — when John left 
his place and came toward me 

“Massa no makee bobblely,’* said he in a low 
whisper — which meant that I was to keep still ; and 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 2^ 

I answered, “Can do.” Then, wishing to know 
what was the matter on deck, I asked, “What for 
makee too muchee bobblely that-side? ” 

John’s answer, rendered from pidj in-English to 
plain language, was to the effect that we were 
pursuing a junk with the evident intention of cap- 
turing her. He had caught enough of the conver- 
sation on deck to ascertain this for a fact, and he 
said that the two taipans had been referring to 
my cabin, and wondering if the “fan-kwei” — 
foreign devil — was asleep or not. 

Whether I turned pale or not at this information 
I never inquired ; there was very little light then, 
and even if I did change color, John was too well 
trained to mention the circumstance. I certainly 
felt pale enough for a dozen ghosts, and would 
have given all my prospects of advancement in the 
commercial world to be safe on shore. 

The whole situation was plain. For reasons 
best known to themselves, the officers and crew of 
the junk had turned pirates, and were in pursuit of 
a prize. They had probably made up their minds 
to murder me as soon as I showed myself, since my 
testimony against them would be decidedly incon- 
venient. The only chance of my escape was that 
they would make an easy capture and plunder 
their prize without rousing me or my servant. In 
such event they^might possibly continue their voy- 
age to Hong-Kong and land me safely ; but it was 


24 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


by no means unlikely that they would put me out 
of the way on general principles. 

John returned to his post of observation and 
auscultation, and I sat still to wait the course of 
events. 

Hardly was he at the door when there was a 
slight noise outside, and somebody spoke to him, 
of course in Chinese. The voice was little more 
than a whisper, and John made no responfse. 

The door of the room opened inward; we had 
barred it securely — or rather John had done so — 
before retiring, or, at any rate, secure enough to 
prevent ordinary intrusion. But in case they 
wanted to open it, a few blows with any of the 
heavy sticks about the deck would have finished 
the business for us in a very short time. 

I crept to John’s side, and peered through the 
crevice. Two men approached with a piece of 
wood about the size of a handspike. It was 
hardly large enough for a battering ram, but it 
would answer. Why they should wish to break 
down the door without first trying to persuade 
us to open it I could not understand. 

I was not long in doubt as to their intentions, 
instead of breaking down the door they barred it 
so it could not be opened. A projecting cleat at 
the top held the fastening bar in place, and the 
two men put it in its position so gently that they 
made no noise. 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


25 


I was very thankful to the scoundrels for their 
forbearance, and while I bore no ill-will to the 
occupants of the strange junk, I could not do 
otherwise than hope they would offer no resist- 
ance, but allow themselves to be captured without 
making any fuss about it. Through my peep-hole 
— the crevice — I could see that we were gaining on 
her, and if all went well (for our junk) the whole 
business might be over within an hour. 

One man remained on watch at the door, and 
John said he was instructed to report any noise 
inside our temporary prison. He tried to look in 
through the crevice, but in this we. had the advan- 
tage, as the flood of light outside prevented his 
discerning anything, while we could easily see all 
that went on within range of our eyes. 

We were now pretty sure of being undisturbed 
for at least half an hour, and I determined to 
make as good use as possible of the time. I had 
in my trunk a pair of revolvers and a box of car- 
tridges, and my first thought was to get them out. 
Very quietly, so as not to be heard by the man on 
guard, John opened the trunk and brought out 
the weapons ; the revolvers had not been charged 
for some time, and one of them was so rusty that 
I feared it might miss fire in case of an attempt to 
use it. Removing the cylinder, I lubricated it as 
well as I could with some salad-oil, and shook a 
few drops into the mechanism of the lock ; the 
same precaution was taken with its fellow, and 


26 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEE. 


the copper cartridges were thrust into their 
places. 

“Now, my fine fellows,” I said to myself; 
“unless you have some new style of warfare, I 
think some of you will lose the number of your 
mess before you throw me overboard. I’m famil- 
iar with these things, and can make them talk to 
some purpose.” 

Next we “cleared the deck for action” by stow- 
ing everything in the corners of the room, as there 
was not enough to make a good barricade with. 
I peered cautiously under the edge of the matting 
at the window, but dared not raise it, for fear the 
sudden influx of light might be discovered by our 
guard, and reveal the fact that we were awake. 
There was nothing in sight, not so much as a 
fishing boat, and as far as we could make out 
ahead, there was nothing visible save the junk we 
were pursuing. 

We gained rapidly, and though a stern chase is 
proverbially a long chase, it was little over an 
hour from the time we were aroused by the com- 
motion, that our junk lay alongside the victim. 
Ours was much the larger craft, and far better 
handled, and she carried more sail in proportion 
to her size. The result was that we came up to 
her side with more grace than you might expect 
from one of these clumsy vessels. Our men threw 
grappling-hooks over the rail of their prize, and 
her people had the good sense to make no opposi- 


tHE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


27 


tion. There was a short parley, whieh was fol- 
lowed by the transfer of several boxes of syeee- 
silver and Mexican dollars from her deck to ours, 



together with half a dozen bales of silk and three 
or four chests of opium. I felt relieved on finding 
that nobody’s throat had been cut. Not a shot 


28 


TriE TALKING HANDKERCIliEF. 


was fired on either side ; but our fellows were quite 
ready for business, as they had loaded their guns, 
and stood with lighted matches ready to blaze 
away if necessary. 

It began to look as though I would have no 
occasion for my revolvers, and I expected every 
minute the men would come to unbar the door and 
restore things to their former condition . The vessels 
separated, and our junk resumed her course. The 
stolen property was placed in the hold, and every- 
thing appeared to be moving in the direction of 
peace, when John startled me with the informa- 
tion that the rascals were discussing the propriety 
of murdering us ! 

“La-li-loong muchee talkee one piecee man dielo 
savvey no can,” he remarked, which is equivalent 
to “The thieves are saying that a dead man 
doesn’t know anything.” No one will dispute it, 
and the phrase is not unknown to the languages 
of the Western world. It seemed that they had 
some doubt as to whether we had been “playing 
’possum” during the little act of piracy on their 
part, and it was urged that the^^ could remove all 
question on that subject by throwing us over- 
board. In favor of the latter proposition was the 
value of the two boxes of silver and other port' 
able property to which they would fall heirs if we 
were not present to claim it. 

While discussing the question of what to do 
with us, the worthy trio moved so far forward 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


29 


that they were out of ear-shot, and we were 
obliged to conjeeture the result, for a time at least. 
Presently they came aft again, and from the few 
words John could catch he inferred that the 
decision was against us, and we were to be dis- 
posed of. 

The guard at our door was ordered to remove 
the bar. As he obeyed the command I saw several 
knives flashing in the hands of the worst- visaged 
rascals of the crew. There could be no mistake 
as to their intentions, and I determined to make 
the most of the situation. I had already formed 
my plan, which was to shoot the lowdah and his 
two fellow-plotters, and then UvSe the rest of my 
cartridges on the crew. If I could only take them 
unawares, I thought, I could finish the three head 
villains in about as many seconds, and would be 
quite likely to create a panic among the crew if I 
succeeded. But how to get at them in the right 
way? If they would only fall into the error of let- 
ting us come out on deck before attacking us, I 
would have the odds far less against me than 
while restricted to my cabin. 

The lowdah said something in a low tone which 
John could not hear, and the men with their knives 
concealed behind them, dispersed along the sides 
of the junk. Then the cook came to our door, 
and after pounding on it, asked John if he wanted 
any boiled rice for the fan-kwei’s breakfast. 


30 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


John answered in the affirmative, but the fan- 
kwei was not up yet, and he would come for the 
rice as soon as it was wanted. Then the men put 
away their knives, and it was evident that they 
would do nothing till I appeared. 

Of course there was no longer any occasion to 
be cautious about opening the window, and I told 



John to roll up the matting and open the lattice. 
I drew a good long breath, and as I did so scanned 
the horizon. The air was just a little murky, not 
exactly a haze, but rather the suggestion of it, and 
the horizon was not clearly defined, though 
enough so for all practical purposes. As I looked 
astern I thought I saw a streak darker than the 
rest of the sky. I looked again, and was con- 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


31 


vinced ; then I called for my glass — a power- 
fnl binocular which I bought in London — and 
adjusted it on the streak that had caught my eye. 

I uttered an exclamation of delight that caused 
John to turn and ask, “What ting massa makee 
look-see?” 

“My makee look-see ping-chwan” (gun-boat), I 
answered. “ He makee come this-side fai-tee” — it 
is coming this way rapidly. 

John ejaculated the equivalent for “all right,” 
boldly opened the door, and walked out to the 
deck, but took the precaution to close the entrance 
immediately. Going leisurely forward, he told the 
cook he would come for the rice in a little while, 
and then returned with some hot water, with 
which he was to perform the office of barber. This 
imaginary service occupied nearly half an hour, 
and then he went for the rice; when he came back 
with it there was a commotion on deck, as the 
approach of the steamer had been discovered, and 
the lowdahwas on the stern of the junk endeavor- 
ing to make her out. 

I felt sure it was all right now, or would be in a 
short time, and I could turn the tables on the 
pirates. They held a hurried conference, and it 
needed no words to tell us that they had agreed to 
let us alone till the steamer had passed, and then it 
would be all up with us. In order to gain time, I 
told John to go back with the rice and say it was 
not properly cooked, that the fan-kwei wanted it 


32 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


freshly boiled, and would not get up till a new lot 
had been prepared. 

This gave me an excuse for keeping the door 
closed and for observing the approaching steamer. 
When I first saw her, and replied to my servant 
that it was a gunboat, I could only guess as to its 
character, but I felt in my bones that it was one 
of those craft which the Chinese government had 
put in commission, under foreign officers, with 
native crews, for the purpose of suppressing piracy. 
As she came nearer I found that my guess was cor- 
rect, and she proved to be the boat whose duty it 
was to patrol the part of the coast from Canton 
to Amoy. Luckily she was coming directly on our 
course. Our rascal lowdah ordered everything to 
be made as innocent as possible in appearance ; the 
plundered junk was considerably off the course, 
and there was little likelihood that she would 
make trouble. The gun-boat would soon pass us, 
and then would come my turn to be dealt with. 

During the civil war in America it was my for- 
tune to serve on the staff of one of the prominent 
generals on the Union side, and while in that serv- 
ice I was detailed to signal duty. I had become 
expert in the work of signaling, so much so that I 
was unwilling to admit I had any superiors in 
manipulating the flags. Though the system had 
not been adopted by the Chinese navy, there were 
several officers on the gun-boats who were familiar 
with it; the captain of this very boat that was 



fortnight before that very morning I had stood on 
the shore at Swatow and waved my handkerchief 
in a manner all mysterious to the wondering 

o 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 33 

approaching us had served, like myself, in the 
American Signal Corps (on the Confederate side), 
and I had recently made his acquaintance. Just a 


“THEf TALKING .HANDKERCHIEF,” 


34 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


natives ; it said to the captain on the deck of his 
steamer, “ Come and lunch with me at noon ” — an 
invitation which he promptly accepted. 

When the gun-boat was a mile away I stood in 
front of the window, and with my handkerchief 
{han-ker-choo in pidj in-English) spelled out the 
words, “Am in great peril; don’t reply.” I was 
fearful that if anything like the waving of a signal 
on the steamer was seen by the pirates they would 
suspect something, and murder me before the gun- 
boat could reach us. Again I .spelled the words, 
and added, “Hoist flag at fore.” I stood well 
inside the window, so as not to be seen by the 
steersman, or any one else who might be on the 
platform above me, and John kept watch at the 
door. The whole crowd of rascals were too busy 
with watching the gun-boat to give us any atten- 
tion, and I was half inclined to rush out and shoot 
down the head scoundrels before they could 
recover from their surprise. 

I was beginning to fear that my signal had not 
been seen, when a ball went creeping up the fore- 
mast, and on reaching the truck it spread out 
into a flag. I wanted to shout and turn a hand- 
spring or two, but prudence forbade. Then I told 
in a few words what had happened, and kept the 
handkerchief steadily in motion as long as it could 
be seen. 

On came the steamer, and ranged up within a 
hundred yards of the junk, and as she was fairly 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


35 


abreast of us she slowed, and then backed her 
engines; then she forged ahead, and by a few of 
those movements best known to steam-ship men 
adapted her speed to that of the unwieldy craft, 
from which she was not now fifty yards away. 

The Chinese tyndal (boatswain) of the gun-boat 
hailed the lowdah, and ordered him to drop his 
sails; he did not comply on the instant, but his 
movements were quickened by a cocked rifle bear- 
ing upon him. Then the whole crowd of pirates 
were ordered forward, a boat’s crew, headed by 
the first officer of the gun-boat, came on board, 
and not till then did I deem it safe to come out of 
my cabin. There never was a more astonished 
Chinaman than that lowdah when, before I had 
spoken a word, they were told what they had 
been doing, how they had robbed the junk, and 
made preparations to kill me and my servant. 
Down to the moment when his head was removed 
from his shoulders at the Execution Ground in 
Canton, a week after his capture, the old rascal 
was puzzled to know how the captain of the gun- 
boat found out the facts in the case. Whether he 
has since ascertained I cannot say. 

John has told the story many times since that 
eventful day, and his explanation always is, 

“ Massa makee talkee han-ker-choo ! ” 

While the first officer was securing the pirates 
and becoming autocrat of the situation, my friend 
the captain stood on the bridge of the gun-boat, 


36 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


and with his handkerchief spelled out, “I shall 
expect you to dine with me.” 

I was too excited to make any other replj^ than 
raise my hat and nod an acceptance of the invita- 
tion. Until I stood on his deck, and felt the grasp 
of his warm hand in mine, my heart was awaj^ up 
in my throat, and I couldn’t say a word. And 
then — well, my heart came up a little further than 
before, and I fled to the cabin as fast as my feet 
would carry me: 1 didn’t want the Chinese sail- 
ors to know what babies we foreigners are. — 
[Harper's Magazine.^ 


FROZEN TO AN ICE-FLOE. 


\ N Spite of its many perils and hard- 
'I'in ships, there is a fascination about 
^ ~ liJi arctic exploration that causes near- 

ly all who have engaged in it to 
wish to go again to the polar re- 
gions. 

Contrary to the general impres- 
sion, the loss of life in arctic exploration is not 
large. The hardships are ver}^ great, and the 
wonder is that so many who ha^^e sought the 
North Pole have ever returned to tell the story of 
their experiences. 

As you read this story, ask any one who may be 
near you what proportion of those engaged in arc- 
tic exploration have perished within the polar cir- 
cle. If a guess is hazarded, it will probably be any- 
where from twenty to fifty per cent, and very few 
will place the figures lower than ten per cent. The 
fact is, the loss of life has been less than two per 
cent of all who have ever gone in search of the 
Pole or of the Northwest Passage, or engaged 
in any other enterprises having for their object a 

37 


38 


I'HE TALKING HANDKERCPIIEF. 


better knowledge of the region of perpetual ice and 
snow. 

The first expeditions to the arctic regions were 
made by John and Sebastian Cabot, in 1497, and 
bv Corte Real, a Portuguese navigator, in the year 
1500; their object being to find a northwest pas- 
sage from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. Since 
their time nearl}^ three hundred expeditions of one 
kind and another have been sent out, some at the 
expense of governments and others at private 
cost. The Northwest Passage has been found 
to exist, but it is of no practical use ; and as for the 
Pole, it has thus far defied all the attempts of man 
to reach it. Out of all the expeditions, large and 
small, onl}^ two have perished altogether — that of 
Sir Hugh Willoughby, which sailed in 1553, and 
that of Sir John Franklin, sailing in 1845. Wil- 
loughby’s men starved to death within twenty 
miles of a Lapland village, where there were 
thousands of reindeer. 

I have not the space for even a limited history of 
arctic exploration, but will come at once to the 
incident indicated by the title, “Frozen to an 
Ice-Floe.” 

Years ago, in northeastern Siberia, I made the 
acquaintance of a Russian who had been a mem- 
ber of an expedition sent out by a commercial 
company to collect the tusks of mammoths from 
the Liakhov Islands, in the Arctic ocean. The 
Liakhov Islands lie off the north coast of Siberia, 


FROZEN FO AN ICE-FLOE. 


39 


and are so far in the arctie regions that they are 
destitute of vegetation, with the exception of a 
few lichens and mosses. In ages gone they 
must have been much warmer than at present, as 
they were covered with forests, in which the mam- 
moth roamed at will. He was in such numbers 
that the collection of his tusks has been a profit- 
able industry for a long 
The tusks are found em 
the frozen 
are cast up 
depths of the 
ocean by the 
waves during 
severe storms 
in summer. 

“We reached 
the islands 
without much 
difficulty, ’ ’ said my 
Russian friend, “and 
gathered a good stock 
of ivory that had been 
cast up by the sea. In a cliff 
of frozen earth, that hab 
broken off since the previous sea- 
son, I found a tusk solidly em- 
bedded and it took me two or three 
hours to chop it free. There was a gi*eat satisfac- 
tion in discovering it, not only because it was a 



40 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


valuable ‘find’ from a commercial point of view, 
but because I was bringing to light something 
that had been concealed fora period variously" esti- 
mated from ten thousand to twent3'-one thousand 
years. The ivor^^ is not as good as that from 
Africa, where it is taken from the elephant killed 
on the spot ; it is whiter and more brittle, from its 
long exposure to frost, but is a very good article 
for many purposes. 

“When we were read}^ to go back again to the 
main-land, we found that a storm had broken up 
the ice for a considerable part of the way where we 
had found a firm road only a little while before ; 
there were many lanes of open water where we 
would need boats to ferr^^ us over, if no other 
means of transit could be found. The sea was full 
of great hummocks and floes — in fact, there was a 
gi'eat deal of ice to a small quantit^^ of water, as 
one looked at it from the shore. 

“As the passage under such circumstances would 
be ver^^ dangerous for our dog-sledges, we decided 
to wait until the frost had closed the lanes of 
water and restored the route to a passable con- 
dition. So we returned to the work of hunting 
for ivor^q and found three or four tusks; as we 
alread\" had as much as we could undertake to 
carry with safet^^ we concealed our latest finds 
where we thought they would be safe until the fol- 
lowilig year. The islands are visited very rarely, 


FROZEN TO AN ICE-FLOE. 


41 


and there was little likelihood that our ivory 
would be disturbed. 

“The weather grew much colder in a few days, 
and the frost closed the open water as we had 
hoped and expected. One of our men went out 
several miles on the ice, and, as his report was 
favorable, we started on our return to the coast. 
We could not travel fast, except on the young ice, 
as the old ice was very rough, and much of the 
way we were obliged to chop down the hum- 
mocks and otherwise smooth the way for the 
dogs and sledges. A mile an hour was a good 
average for us as long as we were in the hum- 
mocky ice; when we found young ice recently 
frozen, we went along at the best speed of the 
dogs, as they seemed to enjoy getting over the 
road rapidly wherever they could do so. 

“The days were long and the nights short; in 
fact, there was very little night, and had it been 
earlier in the season we should have found the 
daylight continuous. We halted occasionally to 
rest ourselves and the dogs, and, of course, we 
halted during the nights, or from ten o’clock until 
two, when the sun rose. Unfortunately for us, on 
the second day the wind rose with the sun, and 
very soon it blew a gale. 

“ The effect of the wind upon the ice was alarm- 
ing. We were tossed almost as though we had 
been in boats on the water, and the cracking and 
crashing of the ice was deafening. Grr.*at fissures 


42 


THE TALKING HANDKEKCHIEE. 


Opened in all direetions, and we found ourselves 
on a cake perhaps a quarter of a mile long by one 
half that width. As long as the cake held 
together we were in no immediate danger, but if 
the wind continued it was ver^^ . likely that our 
refuge would be destroyed. Far as we could see 
was a mass of mingled ice and water, tossing and 
heaving with the effect of the high wind. 

“While we were considering what we should do, 
there was a crash almost at our feet, and the ice- 
floe on which we stood was broken into a dozen 
cakes. We had three dog-teams and a driver to 
each team, and when the crash came two of the 
teams were on one cake of ice, while the third was 
upon another. The drivers were Tungusian 
natives, and had passed their whole lives in the 
Arctic Circle, and all had previously made the 
trip to the Liakhov Islands. Though they had 
passed through many adventures and perils, they 
had never been in a place of such great danger as 
they now found themselves. 

“You may think they deserted their teams, and 
tried to find safety for themselves ; they did noth- 
ing of the kind, but stuck manfully to the animals, 
though it is possible they did so through a belief 
that the dogs would be a help rather than an 
incumbrance in bringing them to a place of safetjL 

“There were three of us Russians, and each of 
us accompanied one of the dog- teams and directed 
its movements, though the control of the dogs 


FROZEN TO AN ICE-FEOE. 


43 


was left to the drivers. When the ice-floe broke 
up I found myself alone with my team and its 
driver, and the cake on which my friends were 
was drifting rapidly away from us, through the 
influence of the wind and the currents that prevail 
in all parts of the Arctic ocean. 

“To the south of us was some ice that seemed to 
be quite firm and of considerable extent, and I 
shouted to m3" friends to try to reach it. We 
decided that the onl}" wa}" to do so was to swim 
the dogs through the water, first throwing awa}- 
all the ivor3q which we could not hope to save. 
The sledge, relieved of the weight of the ivor}", 
would easity float, and we could cling to it, and 
thus have something to support us. 

“We threw off the ivory from the sledges, and 
just as we were getting read}" to take to the 
water I observed that the course of our floes had 
changed and the}" were drifting the way we 
wanted to go. The wind had chopped round to 
the north and was acting in our favor, and, what 
was also noticeable, it was less violent than 
before, though considerably colder. 

“While I was shouting to my friends and telling 
them what to do, the ice gave way beneath me 
and I was thrown into the water. A fragment 
was broken away from my floe in some way that 
I could not understand, and it was on this frag- 
ment that I was standing at the time. With the 
help of my driver I clambered out, but had much 


44 


THE Talking hajIdkerchiEE. 


difficulty in doing so, as tlie ice at the edge of the 
floe was very slippery, and both the driver and 



myself were encumbered with the thick clothing 
that is necessary in those high latitudes. 

“Quite exhausted with my exertions, I sat 
down to rest with my back against a small hum- 
mock, as one stops by the wayside and leans 
against a milestone or a friendly wall. I was 
chilled almost to freezing, the north wind was 
very cold, and I knew that I must remain only a 
moment where I was lest the low temperature 
should render me insensible. Meantime the water 
was draining from my clothing and I was getting 
breath after my severe exertion. 

“The edge of the floe struck against the larger 


FROZEN TO AN ICE-FLOE. 


45 


body of solid ice. The dogs seemed to realize the 
necessity of taking advantage of the situation, as 
they darted at full speed from the smaller floe to 
the firm ice with the first word of their driver. I 
had often admired their intelligence; they would 
cross thin ice at a full gallop, not giving it time to 
yield beneath them, where a slower rate of speed 
would have eertainly caused them to break 
through ; and I had seen them jump over fissures 
two or three feet in width and drag the sledge 
after them as though dogs and sledge were but 
one. In the present instance they made a single 
bound in clearing the space that separated them 
from the firm ice, and when they reached a place 
of safety they stopped as though at the word of 
command. 

“I sat leaning against the hummock watching 
the dogs and drivers at their work. While my 
team was getting to the firm ice my friends were 
following its example, their ice-^loe having taken 
the same, course as my own. When all were over, 
they shouted for me to join them, and I tried to 
rise. I made the effort, and found that I could not 
move, but for the moment was not aware of the 
cause. Again my friends called to me, and added 
the alarming information that the floe had been 
caught by an under-current and was drifting 
away from the firm ice. 

‘“Run for your life!’ said one of the party, 

‘ The floe is drifting away ! ’ 


46 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 



“Again I tried to rise, but could not. My 
strength had fairly returned, and I knew it was 
not weakness that held me back. Another effort, 
and I realized my situation. 

“I was frozen fast to the floe ! I tried to shout 
the cause of my remaining where I was, but the 
words stuck in my throat. I could 
hear the voices of my compan- 
ions growing more 
and more 
faint in the 


distance as 
I drifted 
away from 

“I WAS FROZEN FAST TO THE FLOE.” thcm . Sud“ 

denly it grew dark, and then — I remembered 
nothing more, save an effort to undo the cloth- 
ing that held me fast, but it was impossible 
to turn or move so as to secure my release. My 
bauds la}^ at my side as my limbs were held fast in 
the icy bonds. It was impossible even to make a 
signal. A statue could not have been more 
immovable than I was, nor less capable of making 
known its conditions. 

“The darkness that came over me was the dark- 
ness of a swoon, from which I did not wake for 
hours. Two of our faithful Tungusians came to 
my relief, ferrying themselves across the open 
water upon a cake of ice. They cut me loose from 
the ice that held me, and then, as no time was 


FROZEN TO AN ICE-FLOE. 


47 


to be lost, they ferried my insensible body over 
with them to where my anxious friends were 
standing. 

“They stripped me, and rubbed my body with 
spirits and oil, which we always carry on the 
sledges for just such emergencies. For an hour 
and more I gave little signs of life, but finally I 
was able to speak, and some of the spirits was 
poured down my throat. This helped to revive 
me, and in a few hours I was all right again, 
though terribly stiff and sore from my immersion 
in the water. They wanted to place me on one 
of the sledges, but I insisted upon walking, as I 
knew the exertion would prevent the return of a 
chill. In a few hours we reached the shore and fell 
in with a band of wandering Tungusians, who 
supplied me with dry clothing and plenty of food. 
We told them about our adventure and where we 
had left the ivory ; several of them .started to find 
it, and, by great good luck, they secured two of 
the tusks and brought them away. 


«rjv 


^ /V;:' ' .■vv"^-' /;*• /"'■ /% 

**X \ . \ ' **# • I ■ .. . ^ t ■* • * • ' 

_ ■ \ * ' t " ;•■*' %t . V |‘ » ir' *— ^ *i ^ ’ll 

i-^ * ., • -r', ^ ^ V ^ ^ .3 

fe':^^:> . ■:.■'• ’i^' . '>•-’ ■• • J 

ii^ A ' • i* * M ■ ' * * © ' ’ - * ~~S . 1 * •; ■"* 


’ jli<v; ■' 




CAPTURED BY CANNIBALS. 


many ways the world is rapidly 
becoming prosaic. The age of 
chivalry was gone long ago, if we 
may believe a celebrated writer; 
steam has destroyed the romance 
of the sea; the mystery of the 
unexplored regions of Africa 
exists no longer; the maelstrom 
is a myth ; the sources of the Nile have been visited 
and described, and even the sea serpent has fallen 
before the searching gaze of star-eyed science. 
The car of Juggernaut, which once crushed hun- 
dreds of victims in its annual processions, now 
remains harmless in its temple; the cremation of 
living widows at the sides of their dead husbands 
is rigidly prohibited through the length and 
breadth of India; and the King of Uganda can 
to-day receive a distinguished visitor without 
slaughtering a dozen courtiers in his honor. The 
horrible fascination that clings to the cannibal 
and the story of his performances is greatly 
circumscribed, as the labors of missionaries and 
the spread of commerce have demonstrated that 

4 49 


50 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


man can be put to better uses than to be served 
up for provisions. But the cannibal still lingers in 
some parts of the world, though he is only to be 
found by those who seek him with great diligence. 

Within the memory of those of us who have not 
yet passed beyond middle life the inhabitants of 
the Feejee Islands were noted for their habit of 
devouring the bodies of their enemies, and also, 
under certain circumstances, those of their friends ; 
since missionaries and merchants were established 
there, and the island became subject to Great 
Britain, the British prejudices have prevailed, and 
the practice is now confined to a few benighted 
tribes of the interior. When the missionaries 
began their teachings the natives gave ready 
approval to the scriptural injunction ‘‘love your 
enemies,” but they were disappointed to learn 
that it had no reference to the love of a gourmet 
for a canvas-back duck. Tanoa, the old ruler of 
the Feejees and father of the late King Thakom- 
bau, had a palate so delicate that he could distin- 
guish between the English sailor or the French 
one when served at the table, and he could even 
name the people of the different islands of the 
Feejeean group when a slice of each was placed 
before him. An acquaintance of mine claims to 
have had a narrow escape from being the piece de 
resistance at one of Tanoa’s banquets, and of 
being taken to and into the royal bosom. He 
told me the story one day when we were sailing 


CAPTURED BY CANNIBALS. 


51 


over the Pacific, and wondering if the good old 
times of the cannibals would ever come again. 

“I was on a whale ship,” said he, “that was 
cruising in the South Pacific and had put into the 
Feejees for water. The ship was old and leaky, 
the captain was a tyrant and his first mate a 
brute, and every sailor on the ship was ready to 
desert at the first opportunity. We had a chance 
to go into one of the groups where there were no 
cannibals, but the captain knew that if he did 
there would n’t be a man of us left ; his only hope 
of holding on to a crew was by having them 
choose between the ship and the natives who 
would eat them up. The most frightful stories 
were told about the practices of the people and 
not one of us would venture a yard from the 
beach where we landed to get water. We kept 
the natives at a distance and made them under- 
stand that while we would leave plenty of 
trinkets and old hoops on the shore to pay for the 
water we would n’t go near the little creek on the 
beach unless they staid a good way off from it. 
They had no canoes there and so they didn’t 
bother us by trying to get on board. 

“One afternoon a party of us had gone ashore 
to fill the last of the casks ; the mate was with us 
and it was one of his ugliest days, for he kicked us 
about as though we had no more feeling than the 
boat or the ground we stood on. Because I 
didn’t please him about something he struck me 


52 


THE TALKINC, IIANDKERCIIIEF. 


with an oar, and then I struck back with my fist 
and downed him. The rest of the men pulled me 
off, but they didn’t pull very hard as they were all 
right glad to see the fellow pounded at last. 
When they got us apart I saw what I had done 
and knew the mate woidd have his revenge on me 
as soon as we got to sea again. I thought it all 
over in a second, and in my frenzy concluded I 
might as well be eaten by the savages as beaten to 
death by the mate and thrown over for the 
sharks before we made another port. 

“I turned and went straight for the bushes where 
I knew the natives were watching us. I just said 
‘ Good-b^^e ’ to m^^ shipmates and nothing more. 
They yelled for me to come back but I didn’t turn 
nor stop. The mate started after me, but he 
thought better of it and wheeled around before 
going twenty yards. 

“In five or ten minutes I was in the middle of a 
group of natives who were armed with spears and 
clubs and had their bodies streaked and painted in 
a hideous way. They wore no clothing except a 
strip around the waist and more than half of them 
could not boast as much as that. They tore off 
my clothes and then examined my limbs exactly 
as a butcher examines an ox to ascertain his con- 
dition. One old fellow who seemed to have some 
sort of authority over the rest pinched my arm till 
I almost screamed with pain ; the fact that I did n’t 
scream seemed to impress him favorably, and at 


CAPTURED BY CANNIBALS. 


a word from him I was less rudely treated after 
that. I wasn’t a particularly good prize, as the 
hard fare on the ship had made me pretty thin 



“I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OP A GROUP OF NATIVES.” 


and my ribs fairly stuck out so you might count 
’em. I saw they disapproved of me but probabl}^ 
they reasoned that half a loaf was better than no 
bread and so they took me along. 

“Three of the natives escorted me through the 
tropical forest while the rest remained, probably 
with a view to making more captures if opportu- 
nity offered, or to gather up whatever the ship’s 


54 THE TALKING H ANDKERC IIIEI^. 

crew should leave behind in payment for the privi- 
lege of taking water. We did not stop till we had 
gone a couple of miles back from the shore and 
ascended a hill. Through a rift in the trees I saw 
the boat return to the ship with the water casks 
and in a little while the anchor was raised and 
the old craft sailed out of the bay and stood away 
to sea. I was alone with the cannibals. 

“We waited for the men who had staid behind 
and as soon as they joined us the march was 
resumed. A little before sunset we came to a vil- 
lage of thatched huts, perhaps twenty or thirty 
in all, in a sort of irregular circle surrounding an 
open space ; in the center of this space was a raised 
platform over which was a thatched roof elevated 
on posts about ten feet high. This was the coun- 
cil hall where all public business was transacted ; 
it served as a lounging place by day and also as a 
hotel where strangers could be lodged at night. 
The sides of the structure were entirely open when 
we arrived, but in less than a quarter of an hour 
the building was completely enclosed by strips of 
wide matting stretched between the posts. I was 
made to understand that I must remain in the 
council hall, and to make sure that I did not run 
away two of the natives were constantly at my 
side, or rather, one was constantly at each side of 
me. They brought me some roasted bread fruit 
and raw cocoanuts, gave me a mat to lie on and 
another for covering, and while never relaxing 


Captured by cannibals. 


55 


their vigilance toward me they treated me with 
kindness and respect. 

“I didn’t sleep well, you may be sure, and what 
sleep I had was disturbed by unpleasant dreams 
which seemed to foreshadow my fate. But when 
waking I consoled myself with the reflection that 
I should have been no better off had I staid on the 
whale ship and been subject to the mate’s cruel- 
ties. In the morning they fed me again with bread 
fruit and cocoanut, to which was added a fish 
which had been roasted over the coals and was 
really very good. The whole population, men, 
women and children, came to look at me, and 
after a good deal of jabbering, of which I could 
not understand a word but which evidently referred 
to me, two of the men started through the forest 
in a direction opposite to the one whence we came. 
Then the conference broke up, but for the rest of 
the day I was an object of curiosity. 

“ For three days I was kept a close prisoner, and 
on the morning of the fourth was taken through 
the woods by a winding path, perhaps twenty 
miles, to a large village, where hundreds of natives 
were assembled as if for a grand festival. The 
village surrounded an open space of at least an 
acre in extent. At one end of this space was a 
mound or platform, perhaps eight feet high, and 
in front of the platform was a stone that looked 
like a large gatepost. Old Tanoa and his princi- 
pal officers were sitting on the mound just behind 


5G 


THE TALKING IIANDKEKCIIIEE. 


the stone ; the natives, armed with their 
spears, were seattered over the level gr 
waiting for the ter- 
rible eereinonies to 
begin. 

“ I was led to the 
foot of the mound, 
where half a dozen 
other prisoners, 
their hands and feet 
seeurely tied with 
eords, were lying on 
the ground and at a 
word from the king 
I was similarly 
bound and placed 
by their side. The 
crowd opened so as 
to make a lane from 
the stone to the end 
of the plaza, and 
then began the ter- 
rible ceremonies 
which preceded the 
cannibal feast. 

“Fires were burn- 
ing at the rear of 
the mound and I 
could see the smoke 


clubs 

ound 



“for three days I WAS KEPT 

A CLOSE PRISONER.’’. 


rising in feather}^ curls from at least a dozen 


CAPTURED BY CANNIBALS. 57 

places. Tanoa waved his hand as a signal that 
all was ready, and immediately several athletic 
fellows stepped from the crowd; two of them 
seized each prisoner and carried him about fifty 
yards away from the front of the mound and 
then placed him on the ground again. All my 
fellow victims were natives, and, as I afterward 
learned, were captured in a foray upon a neigh- 
boring island. 

‘‘It was the custom among the Feejeeans in can- 
nibal days to devour their prisoners of war and 
those killed in battle. Tribes often went on the 
war-path solely for the purpose of obtaining vie- 
tims to be served up as food, very much as in other 
lands expeditions are organized for hunting deer 
or other wild animals whose flesh is edible. The 
crews of wrecked ships or boats were always killed 
and eaten ; they were regarded as the gifts of 
Providence and the people often besought their 
gods to send them a wreck that they might be 
provided with food. This superstition regarding 
those who were unfortunate enough to be east on 
their shores was more firmly fixed in the minds of 
the cannibals than any other, and they clung to it 
after relinquishing their elaim to make war in 
order to eat those whom they captured. 

“ A conch shell was blown as the signal for begin- 
ning the slaughter. One of the prisoners was 
seized by his two custodians, who each grasped an 
arm and a leg and then ran rapidly along the lane 


ns TIIK TALKtNC HANDKERCnil?!^. 

till they dashed their victim’s head against the 
great stone I have described. Then another and 
another was disposed of in the same way and car- 
ried off to the rear of the mound, and my turn had 
arrived ! Horrible as was this mode of death, it 
was after all a merciful one, as it was unaccom- 
panied by torture. A single blow against the 
stone and all was over. 

“I had been lying on my back, with my head 
turned to one side during the despatching of my 
companions in captivity, and, with my experience 
as a sailor, had managed to work loose the knots 
that bound m}^ hands, but I did not move the cord. 
My executioners seized me in the customary man- 
ner and started on their deadly mission. As they 
did so they doubled my legs under me so that the 
knot around my ankles touched my hands. 
Instantl}^ I unfastened the cord, but still held 
hands and feet as closely together as though the 
lashings were secure. And now for the grand 
stroke which should save me ! 

“Suddenly I gave a violent spring with hands 
and feet that threw my bearers to the ground, as 
they were totally unprepared for anything of the 
kind. I went to the ground with them, but was 
up in an instant. We were not six feet away from 
the foot of the execution stone, and the head of 
one of my late bearers touched it. 

“With the agility of a cat — for I was a great 
deal younger then than now — I sprang to the top 


CAPTURED BY CANNIBALS. 


59 


of the mound and right in front of old Tanoa. I 
flung my arms wildly about and then dropped on 
the ground at his feet. I afterward learned that 
bethought I was invoking the vengeance of heaven 
upon him for the great peril I had passed through, 



“I FLUNG MY ARMS WILDLY ABOUT.” 


and my prostration was to indicate that he was the 
greatest of terrestrial sovereigns. I really had no 


60 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


thought further than to ask that he would spare 
my life, though I had counted on the dramatic 
effect of my having released myself from my bonds 
and stood. before him. 

“A wild shout went up from the crowd, and the 
king sat as though he had never been more sur- 
prised in his life. If I had been down by the stone 
I should have been finished off in a minute, but at 
the feet of the king I was safe until he ordered oth- 
erwise, as it would be highly improper for the war- 
riors to mount the platform while his majesty was 
there. The seconds seemed like hours while I 
waited for the king’s decision, which he finally 
gave: 

‘ ‘ ‘ The dead are dead, and shall be eaten ; the white 
man shall live.’ 

“The bodies of those who had been killed were 
cooked and devoured ; I was allowed to go about 
wherever I pleased, but was always accompanied 
by two warriors. They offered to show me the 
ovens, but I had no liking for the horrible sight 
and indicated my desire to get as far from it as I 
could. Besides my ineffable disgust I was fearful 
that the king might change his mind or that some 
of his subjects would take upon themselves the 
task of executioner and despatch me without the 
royal leave. But I must do them the justice to say 
that from that time on they never manifested the 
least desire to harm me. 


CAPTURED BY CANNIBALS. 


61 


*‘Iwas sent back to the village where I was 
first taken after my capture, and became the slave 
of the chief, but my slavery was of the lightest 
sort. I was treated more like a companion than a 
servant, possibly for the reason that as the Fee- 
jeeans can practically live without work there was 
very little work to do ; I learned a good deal of 
their language, went with them in the forest and 
in pursuit of fish, and loitered around the council 
hall when there was nothing else to do. 

“I lived there nearly a year, and if I could have 
been assured that there was no danger of being 
slaughtered and eaten I should have been perfectly 
willing to stay among those people the rest of my 
life. They were unwilling to have me leave them, 
and twice when ships came in for water they hur- 
ried me away from the coast to make sure that I 
did not escape; whether they desired my society 
or were actuated by the fear that I should tell 
about their customs I never knew, but certainly 
they tried by every means in their power to pre- 
vent my leaving them. 

“In course of time they grew less watchful and 
I occasionally went off by myself lor a few hours 
without exciting suspicion. I always went 
toward the coast, but invariably took a cir- 
cuitous route ; when in sight of the sea I scanned 
it carefully for a sail, and if none was in sight, 
immediately retraced my steps to the village. 


62 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


Toward the end of the year I did this every day or 
two or as often as I thought it safe ; I generally 
returned with a bunch of bananas or a cluster of 
bread fruit so that my absence was ostensibly in 
search of food. 

“One day my heart came into my mouth ! As I 
looked through a rift in the trees a ship was 
standing into the little bay where our old whaler 
had anchored at the time I had m^^ fight with the 
mate and threw myself into the arms of the can- 
nibals. Away T went down the path 




as fast as I could run 
meet any one, and went 
that no pursuer could 
taken me. Out I came 
beach just as the anchor 
went down to the sandy 
bottom ; I looked back and 
thought some of the village 
people were coming. I didn’t 
sure of it but plunged in and 
the ship. It was a long swim, 
was near drowning, but I got 
all right and was hauled on board. 


luckily 1 didn’t 
at such a pace 
have over- 
on the 



wait to make 
swam off to 
and I 
there 
The captain 


heard my story, then ordered me to be dressed 
and set to work, and I went to work with a 
will. He was a rough, blunt, good-hearted man 
from New Bedford; his mate was pretty severe 
Avith the men, but a vast improvement on my 
old one. All’s well that ends well, and I have 


CAPTURED BY CANNIBALS. 


63 


nothing particularly to regret in that eventful 
residence in Feejee. I afterward learned that 
my former ship went down with all on board a 
few weeks after I deserted her, and so my escape 
to the man-eaters was my salvation.” 



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IN A SHARK’S MOUTH. 


HE shark has a wide range 
all over the globe, princi- 
pally in the tropics, where 
he reaches his greatest size. 
His family has a goodly 
number of members. The 
greatest is known as the ‘‘basking shark,” and he 
attains a length of forty feet and upward, but is 
not, by any means, the most ferocious of the fam- 
ily. The next to him in size, and by far the most 
dangerous, is the white shark, which is found in 
the tropics all around the world, but most numer- 
ously in the West Indies, on the coast of Africa, 
and in the Malay Archipelago. A great many 
stories have been told about the white shark, or 
“man-eater,” as he is often called, and he may be 
set down as one of the creatures most dreaded 
and hated by those who go down to the sea in 
ships. 

Sailors are the sworn enemies of the man-eating 
shark, and never fail to kill him whenever they 

have the opportunity. He follows ships for the 
5 65 



66 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


sake of what is thrown overboard; the sailors 
have a superstitious idea that when he does so his 
presence foretells a death on board, and therefore 
they get rid of him as soon as possible. As he is 
voracious, he is caught with a hook with compar- 
ative ease, and if the line is sufficiently strong he 
can be hoisted on board as soon as hooked. More 
commonly a rope is secured around his body for 
hoisting purposes, and as he comes up to the 
vessel’s side his tail is severed with an ax to pre- 
vent his doing damage with it. Then he is swung 
in on the deck and killed, or, if the sailors are in a 
sportive mood, they free him again and enjoy his 
contortions in the water in his attempts to swim 
without a tail. The shark is pitiless toward them 
when they are within his reach, and they recipro- 
cate by showing no pity or mercy for the shark. 

The writer was once on board a ship that was 
becalmed at sea, and surrounded by a dozen or 
more sharks. One was caught and killed in the 
manner just described ; a second was allowed to 
go after his tail had been severed ; and a third was 
marked for a still more painful fate. 

A large brick was heated to a red heat in the 
galley fire, and then a piece of asbestos packing 
was wrapped around it as quickly as possible. 
The brick with its covering was incased in a piece 
of pork that was tossed overboard, along with 
several other morsels which the sharks were ready 
to devour^ and it had no sooner touched the 


IN A shark’s mouth. 


67 


water than it was swallowed. It took a few 
minutes for the heat to come through its covering 
of asbestos and pork, and during these few 
minutes the shark swam among his companions 
and attracted no special attention. But very 
soon his movements showed the pain he was feel- 
ing ; he darted violently about, sprang out of the 
water, dove, rose again, and was evidently suffer- 
ing intensely. This continued for perhaps half an 
hour, and ended with the creature turning on his 
back and dying in the most horrible contortions. 
The other sharks showed their tender feelings by 
attacking him before he was fairly dead ; they had 
no compunctions about eating him, or at any 
rate, displayed none, for he was devoured before 
our eyes, to the great delight of the sailors. 

The mouth of the shark is situated on the lower 
side of his head in such a position that it is neces- 
sary for him to whirl over on his back to seize 
anything. This necessity of turning over is taken 
advantage of by pearl divers and others who have 
occasion to go into the water where sharks 
abound, and it gives a skillful swimmer a chance 
to get out of his way while he is performing his 
somersault. Pearl divers in the waters of Ceylon 
and the Persian Gulf often kill the shark by means 
of the large knife which they always carry to aid 
them in detaching the pearl oysters from the bot- 
tom. They dive beneath him and plunge the 
knife into his body, and whenever he turns to 


68 


the talking handkerchief. 



seize they dart to one side and make ready for 
another blow. Of course, this can only be done 
by an expert swimmer who is not encumbered 
with clothing of any sort. 
-These divers work without 
any garments, and, as 
they are accustomed to the 
water from their infancy, 
^ they are almost as quick 
as fish in their movements, 
i . One of their methods of 
fighting the shark is to 
^ take a stout stick about 
two feet long, in 
tion to the knife ; 
and stick are in 
-V around the 
waist; 

and thus equip _ p ^ 

he swims confi- 
dently toward 
his adversary. 

The shark turns on 
back to seize the tempt- 
ing prey ; quick as a flash the 
man places the stick upright 
between the jaws of the monster, and as the ends 
are pointed they pierce both the upper and lower 
iaw when the shark attempts to close upon the 
obstacle. He cannot get rid of the incumbrance, 


a belt 
man’s 



IN A shark’s mouth. 


69 


and lie is powerless to bite ; the diver may attaek 
and kill him as leisurely as he likes, for, with his 
mouth thus fixed in an open position, the creature 
cannot even make his escape by swimming away, 
for the simple reason that he cannot swim. A 
man must be very skillful in the water to be able 
to kill a shark after this 
method, as it requires the 
most perfect self-posses- 
sion to put the stick in 
its proper position, and 
at the right moment. 

On a steamer on which 
I was once a passenger, 
there was a man who 
had lost his right foot 
and went around with a 
pair of crutches. He was 
a Frenchman who had 
gone to the East Indies 
in his younger days and 
was said to be a wealthy 
merchant in one of the 
principal ports of Asia. 

Naturally, the other pas- 
sengers were curious to 
know how he had lost 
his foot, and their curi- 
osity was all the greater, when, in answer to a 
question on the subject, he briefly said : 




70 


THE TALKINC^ handkerchief. 


“It was bitten off.’’ 

He showed no intention of gratifying their 
desire to learn more on the subject, until one aft- 
ernoon, when the conversation had become inter- 
esting, through the narration of adventures of 
travel and hunting in variotis parts of the world, 
something was said about sharks, and it led to 
several stories, some of which were certainly a 
good deal exaggerated. They seemed to rouse the 
Frenchman, and when the last narrator had 
paused, our friend of the crutches and single foot 
said : 

“I’ll tell you a story about a shark I had a fight 
with, and he’s the one that bit off my foot.” 

Of course we were all silent at once, as every- 
body wanted to know how he had suffered his 
mutilation. He allowed us to remain so for a 
minute or two, and then began : 

“About ten years ago I went up to the Persian 
Gulf, on a pearl speculation, along with a coun- 
tryman from Bombay. We had a schooner 
loaded with an assorted cargo of the kind of 
goods suited to the trade, and as we were con- 
siderably in advance of the other speculators we 
did a good business as long as it lasted. The 
divers bring up the oysters that contain the 
pearls, and then heap them on the shore to rot ; 
and such a stench as these rotting oysters make it 
would not be easy to match in any other part of 
the world. When the oysters are turned into a 


IN A shark’s mouth. 


71 


decaying, or rather, a decayed mass, they are 
dumped into a trough and washed through men’s 
fingers, and great care must be taken to save all 
the small pearls. 

“But that hasn’t anything specially to do with 
the scoundrel that bit off my foot. The sharks 
hung about the oyster beds, and hardly a day 
passed without one being seen, and sometimes 
every diver that went down reported one or more. 
Several of the man-eaters were killed, and we 
began to think the beds were free from them, as 
none had been reported for two or three days. 

“Our schooner was anchored a mile or more 
from shore, as the water where we were was very 
shallow, and, besides, we were more convenient 
to the fishermen than if we had been nearer 
to the land. We went back and forth in a native 
boat, as we found it much cheaper to hire one of 
these crafts than to keep a part of a crew waiting 
to row us about. It was not always easy to find 
a boat when we wanted it, but on the whole, we 
got along very well. 

“One afternoon my partner and I were coming 
ashore, and had got about midway from the 
schooner to the land, when one of the boatmen 
suddenly called out that an enormous shark was 
right ahead of us. He pointed in the creature’s 
direction, and m}^ eyes followed the motion of his 
finger. The shark evidently saw the boat, and 
concluded that he would get beneath it, on the 


72 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEE. 


chance that something edible might be dropped 
overboard. 

“ My curiosity got the better of my caution. I 
was so anxious to see the great monster that I 
forgot that the boat was very cranky, and the 
least motion from one side to the other made an 
upset quite possible. I lost my balance in leaning 
over the side, and almost before I was aware of it 
was in the water. And right below me was that 
enormous shark. 

“ My head was covered with a sola topee, or sun 
hat, one of those pith and cloth contrivances worn 
by nearly every European in Asia, and by no 
means unknown in other parts of the world. It 
came off my head as I touched the water, or possi- 
bly fell off just before I tumbled ; anyway, it must 
have caught the shark’s eye before anything else, 
as he went for it without a moment’s hesitation. 
He whirled on his back and crunched the innocent 
hat between his great jaws as you have seen a dog 
crunch a chicken bone. He was not long in dis- 
covering what a poor article of food it was, as he 
quickly turned his attention from the hat to its 
owner. 

“ I thought my last moment had come, as I was 
not an expert swimmer, and bevsides was incum- 
bered with my garments, though the latter really 
made no difference to a man who could not move 
more quickly than I in the water. I made only one 
or two strokes with my hands, before the shark 


IN A shark’s mouth. 


n 




seized me by the foot and dragged me beneath the 
surface. 

‘“A hundred pounds to the man who saves 
him ! ’ my partner shouted to the boatmen 
in their own language, in which he was 
proficient. 

“A hundred pounds to one of those boat- 

) men would 
' be like ten 
thousand 
to anybody in 
England or Amer- 
ica. It was enough 
to take great risks to 
_ get it. 

“ Amodou, the chief of the boatmen, was a skill- 
ful pearl fisher, and boasted that he had killed 
many a shark while pursuing his occupation. The 
offer of a hundred pounds was a stimulus that set 
him in motion instantly, 
and hardly were the words 
out of my partner’s 
mouth before the = 
honest Amodou 
was over the side 
of the boat with 
his knife gripped between 
his teeth. 

“In the Clearwater of the gulf he could see a 
long distance, and a dozen vigorous strokes 



74 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


brought him to the side of the shark that was 
dragging me away. They not only brought him 
at the side of, but under the shark, and the next 
instant the knife was plunged to the hilt in the 
ereature’s vitals, making him release his hold on 
my foot. 

“Two or three times, and very quickly too, the 
knife was plunged, and then Amodou turned his 
attention to me. I was more dead than alive, and 
when he brought me to the surface I fainted, so 
that he was obliged to support all my weight. 
Had another shark happened along at that 
moment, one of us would certainly have become 
his prey. 

“I was lifted into the boat, the water I had 
taken into my lungs was expelled by the custom- 
ary expedients used upon persons in a drowning 
condition, and after a while I recovered. My foot 
was crushed into a shapeless mass and could not 
be saved ; it was amputated by a young doctor on 
board an English ship, then in the gulf, and in 
course of time I was restored, as you now see me.” 

“How long were you under water ? ” one of the 
listeners asked. 

“I don’t think it was over two minutes,” was 
the reply, “from the time the shark pulled me 
down until Amodou had me at the surface. The 
whole thing was done so quickly that it would 
have seemed very much like a dream had it not 
been for the terrible reality of the loss of my foot 


In a shark^s mouth. 


75 


and the sensation of being in the grasp of a shark. 
That is something nobody ever could forget ; cer- 
tainly I can never forget it if I live to be a hundred 
years old.” 

Then the Frenchman excused himself and hob- 
bled away to his room. Another of the party told 
how he had seen a shark blown up with gunpow- 
der, very much in the same way that his fellow 
was killed with red-hot brick. A small can of 
pow^der, with a lighted slow match attached to it, 
was imbedded in a piece of pork and thrown over 
from a ship which was followed by a large shark. 
He swallowed the pork with its explosive cargo, 
and— the rest of the story tells itself. 




' . - •*. 7 * 


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r*" ^ % 1 * * 

•,;' ^ ' IV ■ ■ 

^■- 1 ' ^■■>-' «» •• 



* - • 

* , ■ - * 

‘‘■. . i .V, ' . 








BESET BY CHINESE PIRATES, 


N the harbor of Hong Kong 
the attention of the stranger 
is arrested by the number of 
Chinese junks armed with 
cannon and otherwise pre- 
senting a warlike appear- 
ance. On inquiring their 
character he is told that they are peaceful traders, 
and their armaments are intended for defense 
against the pirates that infest the waters of the 
Flowery Kingdom. The cannon are clumsy affairs, 
and seem to have been made hundreds of years 
ago ; the carriages are as clumsy as the guns they 
support, and the crew of the junk do not suggest 
anything of the man-of-war style when one con- 
templates them with an eye to naval operations. 
The junk is a tub whose best sailing cannot exceed 
four or five miles an hour, and it is very evident 
that a modern gunboat from an occidental navy 
yard could destroy a whole fleet of these unwieldy 
craft inside of an hour or two. But the junks and 
their means of defense are exactly like the junks 
and the offensive weapons of the pirates, and so 



78 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


the honors are easy. It is whispered about Hong 
Kong, and in no low tones, that these apparently 
peaceful traders sometimes do a little piracy on 
their own account. Let an armed trader meet a 
defenseless or weaker one where no spectators are 
about, it is quite possible that the enterprising 
captain of the stouter vessel will be unable to 
resist temptation. Perhaps he will be satisfied 
with plundering the craft without harming any> 
body, merely threatening to show no mercy next 
time in case his victim should mention the present 
occurrence to the authorities. If he is of adaman- 
tine heart he will not be content with such mild 
measures ; he slaughters the crew and burns the 
unfortunate junk after removing everything of 
value, and then eontinues peaeefully on his voyage. 
His crew is bribed to silence with a portion of the 
stolen property, and also through the dread of 
losing their heads in case of discovery. The vic- 
tim of the exploit forms an addition to the miss- 
ing list, and nobody troubles himself about the 
matter except the few persons directly interested. 
They of course can learn nothing, and the affair is 
soon buried in oblivion. 

Another form of piracy in Chinese waters is con- 
ducted from the shore and not from sailing crafts 
at sea. The pirates have places of rendezvous 
along the coast, whence they come out with swift 
boats propelled by a large number of rowers and 


BESET BY CHINESE PIRATES. 


79 


pounce upon any sailing vessel that may be 
becalmed or drifting with light winds within their 
reach. Once in possession they kill without mercy 
every human being they can find. “ Dead men tell 
no tales ” is the motto of the Chinese pirates, as it 
used to be of the corsairs of the West Indies and 
the Spanish main. If the ship is European, she is 
invariably burned after the removal of her cargo 
or its most valuable portions. If she is native she 
generally meets the same fate, but sometimes the 
captured junks are taken to the piratical rendez- 
vous where they are refitted and changed so that 
their mothers wouldn’t know them, and after- 
ward taken to Hong Kong or to one of the Chi- 
nese ports and sold. Of late years piracy in Chi- 
nese waters has been greatly reduced by means of 
the fleet of steam gunboats built in Chinese navy 
yards or bought abroad. They are swift and of 
light draught, generally commanded by Europeans 
and manned by Chinese, carry a few small but very 
efficient guns, have well-drilled crews, and, alto- 
gether, can knock to pieces in a few minutes any 
pirate craft that comes in their range. These gun- 
boats cruise along the shore, visit all the bays 
where pirates are suspected of having their rendez- 
vous, and occasionally come upon the rascals in 
the midst of their work. But you cannot change 
the ways of a people all at once, and even with its 
fleet of gunboats in constant service the Chinese 


80 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


government is still annoyed by the pirates, and 
will doubtless be further annoyed by them for 
years to come. Latterly ^ the pirates have 
been much more ■ chary of at- 

tacking foreign .. ships than 

they were thirty or " forty years ago, 

partly on account of the stubborn 

resistance that is gen ’ erally made, and 

parti V because \ thev know the^^ are 

liable to be fol lowed up by foreign 

war ships as soon as their misdeeds are 

known. In at tacking a foreign ship 

' weapon of the pirates 


a favorite 
is the “ stink ^ 
known as the 
is an earthern 
most villainous t 
pound ; the vase 
on the deck of a 
scatters about, 
work immedi 
pean nose can 
it, but the 
is not speci 
turbed. The 
driven from 



pot,” more elegantly 
“asphyxiating vase.” It 
pot or vase filled with a 
and evil-smelling com> 
breaks when it is thrown 
ship, and the stuff 
and puts in its fine 


y. The Euro- 
not endure 
Chinese nose 
ally dis- 
Europeans are 
the neighbor- 
hood of this odor-laden shell, and thus the pirates 
obtain their opportunity of mounting to the 
deck. 

Two or three years ago an English steamer lying 


BESET BY CHINESE PIRATES. 


81 


peacefully at anchor in a bay in the Lin-Chow 
peninsula, was captured in this way. The pirates 
came alongside unsuspected ; a few of them 
mounted to the deck and threw a stink pot “where 
it would do the most good,” and then the rest fol- 
lowed and the steamer was captured without the 
shedding of a single drop of blood. The fact was 
the steamer was on a smuggling expedition and in 
a place where she had no legitimate business. As 
the crew had made no resistance the pirate 
captain was kindly disposed and permitted them 
to retain their heads. He gave them a small 
junk in exchange for the steamer and started them 
on their way to Hong Kong. The steamer was 
plundered, but not burned. Notice was sent to 
the Chinese authorities at Canton and a gunboat 
went down and took final possession. There was 
no attempt to pursue the pirates, as their offense 
was greatly mitigated by the illegal business of 
the steamer. 

Probably the Chinese government would be 
willing to condone all similar piracies and thus 
break up the operations of the foreign contra- 
bandists. Hong Kong is a nest of English and 
other smugglers, and the British authorities at 
that point throw all possible protection around 
those who violate the revenue laws of China. In 
the eyes of the officials of Hong Kong there are no 
revenue laws worthy of respect, other than those 

of the United Kingdom. 

6 


82 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


A friend of the writer had a narrow escape from 
death at the hands of Chinese pirates. Like the 
crew of the steamer mentioned above, he was 
engaged in smuggling at the time of his adven- 
ture, and was therefore not in a position to invoke 
the full protection of the authorities. The ship to 
which he was attached was anchored off the 
coast, not far from Macao and under the shelter 
of the Sun Chow Islands. In the daytime opera- 
tions were suspended, and nearly everybody slept ; 
but at night there was activity from one end of 
the ship to the other, and many chests of opium 
were transported to the shore. The officials in 
the neighborhood had been properly bribed, and 
everything went along smoothly. My friend was 
second mate of the ship, and accompanied half the 
boat loads to the point where the opium was 
delivered to the comprador of the Chinese house 
to which it was consigned, while the first mate 
attended to the other half The captain, third 
mate and supercargo looked after matters on 
shipboard during the absence of the first and 
second officers. The rest of the incident is best 
told in his own words. 

“It was about five miles from the ship, ” said he, 
“to a place where we landed the opium and turned 
it over to the comprador. Each of the boats had 
a Chinese crew of rowers under charge of a Malay 
tyndal or boatswain, and the only white man of 
the party was the mate in charge. Between sun.- 


BESET BY CHINESE PIRATES. 


83 


set and sunrise each boat made two round trips, 
and for the first two nights there was no trouble 
of any kind. On the third night each of us had 
made one trip ; the first mate’s boat went ahead 



of mine, and it was our rule to get one party 
clear off from the ship before beginning to load up 
for the other. You see we were liable to a visit 
any time from some of the customs officials who 
hadn’t been ‘squared,’ or more especially from the 
foreign employes of the government who were on 
the lookout for a capture out of which they could 
bag a good reward. Only one chest of opium was 
brought on deck at a time, and not until it was 
safe in the boat was another one hoisted up. Incase 
of a sudden visit the boat had orders to pull off at 
once into the darkness, and at the same time the 
hatch would be closed and everything made ship- 
shape. By the time the officers could get on the 
deck there wouldn’t be a chance for suspicion that 


84 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


we were doing anything else than lying at anchor. 
Of course it would require lying of another sort 
to convince them that our presence there was 
entirely innocent, but we were ready with an 
abundance of that kind of the article. 

Just as the first mate was ready to pull off on 
his second trip for that night, one of our sharp- 
eared fellows detected the sound of oars in the 
water. Everybody was ordered to keep still and 
listen, and sure enough we could distinctly hear 
the splash that indicated the movement of a boat. 
It was a slow and cautious sound, and indicated 
very plainh" that the men who were making it 
wanted to get as near as possible before they were 
discovered. There was no time to unload the 
opium from the mate’s boat; he dropped astern 
with the slight current that was running and was 
soon out of sight. The tackle was passed down 
to my boat, and in half a minute we had her 
swinging by the davits where she belonged and 
everybody out of her. The 
Chinamen were ordered below, ^ ^ 

and as they went down the 
hatch one of them said to me, 
waving his hand in the direc- 
tion of the approaching boat : 

' Plenty piecee la-li- 
loong blongy this 
side;’ (‘good many 
thieves around here.’) 



BESE1' BY CfilNESE PIRATES. 


85 


I caught his suggestion on the instant and imme- 
diately told the eaptain what the man had said. 

“The eaptain was at first inclined to laugh at 
the idea, as no pirates had been heard of there for 
a long time, but a moment after said it was just 
as well to be on the watch for mischief. To con- 
firm the suggestion that there might be something 
wrong, the approaching boat stopped rowing, 
which it would not have been likely to do if its 
mission was an honest one. Everything was still 
on the ship, and we had hoisted in the boat so 
quietly that the little noise we made was drowned 
to their ears by the sound of their own rowing. 

“The half dozen European sailors of our crew 
were on deck with us. The captain sent two of 
them below with me to bring up some rifles which 
were kept ready in the cabin, and also a box of 
hand grenades that were intended for the kind of 
fighting which might be going on in the next 
quarter of an hour. I earned a revolver at my 
waist, and so did the captain. I buckled on an 
extra one and brought up another for the captain, 
and in less than three minutes from the time I 
went below I was on deck again, and everybody 
was armed and at his post. Of course you under- 
stand that the Chinese part of the crew is of no 
use. Chinamen make good soldiers when properly 
drilled and diseiplined, but in their civilian condi- 
tion they cannot be relied upon. The best thing to 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 

do with them was to keep them below where they 
had been sent. 

“After resting a few minutes, and hearing 
no sound from the ship the rowers bent to their 
Avork again, and very soon the boat was at our 
side. It was a long and low craft of the kind 
called a ‘snake boat,’ partly from its shape and 
parth^ because of its superior speed. We hailed 
her, and the only reply we received was ‘Flin,’ 
(‘Friend.’) A moment later a stink pot was flung 
upon the deck. 

“The missile was well aimed in one respect, but 
badl}" in another. Instead of striking the deck 
and breaking to pieces, as was intended, it fell into 
a tub of boiled rice which the cook had set out for 
the breakfast of our Chinese boatmen. The soft 
rice received it tenderly, and the odoriferous 
weapon Avas harmlessly embedded Avhere it could 
do no great injury to those for Avhom it was 
intended. 

“The pirates endeavored to follow their opening 
shot and take advantage of the confusion it might 
have created. They sprang at the sides of the 
ship under her fore chains ; aa^c saAv Avhat they 
Avere up to, and as fast as a head showed aboA^e 
the rail in the dim light it receiA^ed a bullet from 
rifle or revoh^er at very close quarters. While sev- 
eral grenades AA^ere flung at the boat two of the 
sailors dropped their rifles and armed themselves 
with handspikes ; one of them said afterward that 


BY Chinese pirates. 


8? 


he could shoot much faster with a handspike than 
tvith a gun as he lost no time in stopping to 



reload. Two of the scoundrels got over the rail, 
and one of them had me by the throat when a 
sailor laid him out with a blow across the back, 
and finished the job by flinging the fellow over- 
board. He struck just in time, as the man was 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 

unusually powerful, and had me pinned in sueh 
a way that I could not use my revolver. 

“In five minutes the fight was over. The pirates, 
as many as were left of them, paddled off as fast 
as their snake boat could carry them, and in a 
direction opposite to that whence they came. 
Hardly were they gone before the mate came row- 
ing through the darkness. He had found it no 
easy matter to get his crew to return to the ship, 
as they knew very well that we had been attacked 
by pirates, and they had no liking for the com- 
pany of those fellows. All the mate’s threats to 
shoot them unless they bent to the oars were of 
no avail ; they would not pull a stroke until they 
heard our shout of victory and the sound of the 
oars as our assailants pulled away. 

“We hadn’t a man hurt, although we had a 
very narrow escape from capture and consequent 
death. And the unhappiest man of all our party 
was the first mate, because he didn’t have a hand 
in the fight. 


JUGGLERS OF THE ORIENT. 



^ROM time immemorial the far East 
has been famous for the perform- 
anee of its jugglers. Aneiently 
^^1^ they were supposed to have 
supernatural aid, and even at the 
present time a large part of the native 
population regards them as something more 
than ordinary mortals. The travelers of two 
or three eenturies ago gave the most wonder- 
ful accounts of what they saw the jugglers 
accomplish. The performances they described are 
so marvelous that the}^ severely tax our credulity 
and lead us to speculate as to the reliability of 
the narrators. One traveler says that he saw a 
necromancer throw a coil of rope upward into the 
air; the rope stretched out as it ascended and 
remained fixed as though fastened to an invisible 
beam. The spectators could not see the upper end 
of the rope, as it was beyond their range of vision 
and none of them was provided with an opera 
glass. Then the conjurer ordered a boy who 
assisted him to mount the rope, and he did so 
until he disappeared from sight. The conjurer 

89 


90 


THE TALICINO HANi)KERCHlEE. 


called out to the boy several times, and, receiving 
no repl}", pretended to be very angry. Grasping a 
knife and holding it between his teeth he climbed 


o little while there were 
as though there was 
a hand of the boy fell 
ollowed by the other 
t and the other foot, 
id finally the trunk, all 
pping with blood. A 
le conjurer slid down 
d was upon his gar- 
vas panting, as though 
isted. 

The dismembered 
boy was gathered to- 



gether and laid upon 
the ground, each limb 
in its proper place, and then the 


conjurer said something in a low tone 
I which was supposed to be an incanta- 
tion of some sort. He waved a wand 
two or three times, there was a move- 
ment of the juvenile fragments, and 
then the boy rose to his feet and ran 
about, being apparently as well 
as ever. The Ameer, before whom 
the performance was given, sat 


quite unconcerned; the visitor felt disturbed about 
the stomach and heart, but was relieved by a cor- 


jugglers of the ORIENT'. 


91 


dial which was brought to him by the Ameer’s 
servants. He regarded the affair as something 
dreadful, but the Ameer expressed the belief that 
there had been no going up or down the rope, 
neither marring nor mending of the boy. 

It is said that this identical trick or a modification 
of it has been performed in modern times, but 
though I made diligent inquiry in China and India 
and offered to pay a good price to witness it, I 
was unable to find a conjurer who would under- 
take it. Whenever I inquired I was told it eould 
be seen somewhere else. In Madras I was told it 
was performed in Delhi or Bombay, and in each of 
those places I was referred to the other, or to 
Madras or Calcutta. Ibn Batuta, the Arab trav- 
eler, who gives the foregoing aceount, must have 
been something that is unknown to the conjurers 
of to-day — if he saw anything at all — and the 
same must be said of other tales of travelers ol’ 
former days. But the fact remains that some of 
the performances of the conjurers or jugglers of 
to-day are nearly as marvelous as this and have 
never been satisfactorily explained. Prominent 
among these is the “boy and basket trick,’’ which 
I had the pleasure of seeing soon after landing in 
India. 

Just after luncheon one day a servant came and 
said there was a juggler outside who could do 
something remarkable, and begged the permission 
of our party to honor us with a performance. As 


92 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


we had nothing to occupy us for an hour or more, 
and, besides, desired to see what the fellow could 
do, we consented at once. He was admitted to 
the courtyard of the hotel, where there were 
several reclining chairs, and thither we went at 
once. Seated on the chairs we formed a circle of 
perhaps twenty feet in diameter; behind us stood 
our native servants and a goodly number of the 
attaches of the hotel. For them the performance 
was free, as the foreign spectators were expected 
to pay all the bills of the performer. 


The fellow began by 
quantity of puzzles, 
sa,le, with the under 
whoever purchased 
be shown how to 
There were 
put together, 
strings with 
knots, and sev 
of the same 
a few of the 
to encourage 
because 
them, 
were in 
superi 

tricks that may 


displaying a 
which were for 
standing that 
anything would 
“work” it. 
rings curiously 
buttons upon 
comp Heated 
eral other th ings 
kind. We bought 
articles, more 
the trade than 
w e wanted 
as they 
no way 
or to the 
be bought in London or 
New York. After awhile we hinted through one of 
the servants that it was time for the performance 



JUGGLERS OF THE ORIENT. 


93 


to begin and that we should buy nothing more 
until it was over. 

The eourtjmrd of the hotel was paved with 
stone, and one of us examined the place very 
closely to see that there was no trap-door in the 
center where the conjurer took up his position. 
He was dressed in the ordinary costume of a 
native and was a thin and rather oldish man, 
with a complexion like that of a dark mulatto. 
The tools of his trade were carried in a bag and 
this bag was in a basket ; the latter was shaped 
something like an inverted saucer and measured 
about thirty inches from one side to the other. 
The basket was an ordinary affair and we had an 
opportunity to examine it carefully ; the mouth 
was ten or twelve inches across, and it had no 
other opening. It was placed on the ground by 
the side of where the conjurer squatted, the bag 
of implements having been first taken out and the 
contents spread on the ground. There were a 
short sword, a few balls, two or three knives, and 
some of the tricks and puzzles such as we had just 
purchased; there was also a flute, and this the 
performer picked up and placed to his mouth. 

He played a weird sort of tune, and while he 
was playing the boy crept into the basket and 
coiled himself out of sight. There was just room 
enough for him and no more, and just as he had 
disappeared the conjurer called out to him, as 
though giving a command, 


94 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


There was no response, and then the conjurer 
called again. 

Still no response, and then the conjurer called in 
a louder tone. He then became very angry, at 
least he appeared to, and springing to his feet 
bent over the basket and talked rapidly and 
violently, as though in a state of frenzy. The 
boy responded in the same tones and there was 
every indication of a quarrel between master and 
servant, and a quarrel, too, of no ordinary char- 
acter. 

What was said on either side we did not know, 
as none of us were familiar with the language, 
and there was no time to give attention to inter- 
preters. The man became wrought up to such a 
pitch of excitement that he seemed ready for any 
violent deed. 

Suddenly he seized the short sword which lay 
near him and plunged it into the basket. Some of 
the spectators gave a slight cry of horror, but the 
most of them realized that they were watching a 
conjurer and had no occasion for alarm. But 
think as we might, the spectacle was fearful, and 
it seemed impossible that the boy could be other- 
wise than killed. The master was apparently 
frantic with rage ; he gave lunge after lunge at the 
basket, driving the sword through it and down to 
the floor of the court yard. Here, there and every- 
where he drove it, and we could see all over the 


JUGGLERS OP THE ORIENT. 


95 


surface of the basket the great gashes made by 
the weapon. 

At the first blow the boy shrieked in a way that 

made all the listeners 
shudder; it was a 
) shriek exactly like 
what might be 
expected under 



th e circumstances. 

Each blow was followed by 
a similar sound until several 
blows had been given; then the 
sound grew fainter and fainter, and 
at last there was no response. How could there 
be any when the boy was certainly pierced by a 
dozen wounds, any one of which must be fatal ? 


96 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


From sheer exhaustion the eonjurer .stopped and 
sat down on the ground. He wiped the blood- 
eovered sword and plaeed it with the other uten- 
sils of his trade, and then he turned to the basket 
and looked into it. 

In apparent astonishment he held it up before us 
and found that it was empty. Then he gave it to 
one of the servants, who passed it around the 
circle that we might see for 
ourselves how much it had 
suffered from the blows of the 
knife. Certainly as a basket it 
was of no further use. 

What had become of the 
boy? We all saw him enter 
the basket, heard the alter- 
cation between him and his 
master, heard his shrieks as the 
sword was thrust into the 
frail piece of wicker work 
and heard (to make an Irish 
bull) his silence afterward. 
But nobody had seen him come 
out of the basket, and every 
one of us had kept his eyes 
glued to it from the moment 
he crept inside. Even if he 
had left the basket, there was 
no way for him to get out of our circle without 
being perceived, as we were seated so closely that 



JUGGLERS OF THE ORIENT. 


97 


our chairs almost touched each other, and he could 
not possibly escape unseen. And we were further 
satisfied that there was no trap door by which he 
could descend. 

While we were speculating as to his disappearance 
the boy suddenly reappeared behind my chair and 
pressed forward to enter the circle. He came from 
somewhere, but from where nobody in our partj^ 
knew, and the secret of how he escaped none of us 
could guess. But there he was, and no mistake, 
and he was as free from scar or wound as when 
he entered the basket. We might examine him as 
closely as we liked and satisfy ourselves that he 
was quite unharmed. 

It is not at all difficult to explain everything 
except the escape of the boy from the basket and 
outside the ring. The conjurer, when using the 
sword, makes his thrusts in such a way as to avoid 
touching the boy. I afterward saw this trick per- 
formed by a bungler, and observed that he thrust 
the sword straight down in the center of the 
basket, or else directed the weapon so that it 
passed over the youth. In this second instance, 
the latter part of the trick, the escape, was not 
given, and this is a part for which nobody has yet 
found a satisfactory explanation. 

Another remarkable trick of the Indian jugglers 
is that of the mango, a fruit not altogether unlike 
the banana, thought vastly superior in flavor. 
The mango tree is cultivated from the seed, and 


98 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


the performer who undertakes this trick has no 
other paraphernalia than a pot ol earth and a few 
seeds of the luscious fruit. He usually has an 
assistant, though not always, and whenever he 
has one the duties of the latter are confined to 
playing the flute or some other musical instru- 
ment. 

The East is a land where one must be patient, 
and the rule applies to jugglery as well as to every- 
thing else. I was told that I must sit quietl}^ in my 
chair during the entire performance, which would 
at least take an hour, and I must not be surprised 
if it required two hours. “ Bear in mind,” said my 
informant, “that it takes several years for the 
mango tree to reach the fniit-bearing stage, and 
you ought to be satisfied when you see it come 
to maturity in a couple of hours.” 

So I prepared to be patient, and patience was 
easy enough just after the luncheon hour, when 
the temperature was altogether too hot to permit 
one to do anything out of doors. 

The performance took place on the paved court- 
yard of the hotel, and the surroundings were prac- 
tically the same as in the trick of the boA^ and 
basket. Even had there been a trapdoor it would 
have availed nothing, as it could have been of no 
advantage in producing a tree. 

In the presence of all the spectators the conjurer 
took a mango seed in his fingers and planted it in 
a pot or tub of earth. We were permitted to 


JUGGLERS OF THE ORIENT. 


99 


examine the earth and stir it with a stick to make 
sure that there was nothing else 
The seed was planted, the 
was watered, and then the per- 
former and his assistant pi aj^ed 
upon their instru- 
ments some of the 
music for which 
the East is noted. 

It was weird and 
mel a n c h o 1 y 
and one of 
the s 
ta t o r 

marked that it was enough to make any respect- 
able tree get out of the ground and go away as 
soon as possible. 

For ten minutes or more there was no change in 
the appearance of the earth where the seed was 
planted ; but at the end of that time it was seen to 
swell and the shoot of the young plant made its 
appearance. It rose slowly with a steady motion, 
requiring what seemed to be two or three minutes 
for every inch of growth. A few inches from the 
ground the shoot separated into branches; then 
the leaves appeared, then the trunk took the 
shape of a veritable tree trunk, and every specta- 
tor familiar with the appearance of the mango 
tree could recognize it at a glance. The leaves 
grew to their natural size, and in the center of each 



100 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


cluster of leaves there came a panicle of reddish 
white flowers, peculiar to this tree. The flowers 
withered and the fruit appeared, grew to its nat- 
ural size and was ready to be gathered. 

The mango tree varies from twenty to forty feet 
in height, and its branches spread as widely as 
those of an apple tree in the Northern States of 
America. It affords a grateful shade, and would 
be highly valued for this reason alone, even if 
it did not afford the fruit which is so greatly 
prized. 

It is proper to say that the mango trees pro- 
duced by the oriental conjurers are not of full size ; 
they are limited to a height of a few feet, but to 
all appearance they are perfect in shape. The last 
act of the performance is to cut off the fruit and 
hand it around to be eaten — no, the last act is to 
collect from the spectators the amount that each 
chooses to pay for having witnessed such a won- 
derful manifestation of the necromancer’s skill. 

The conjurers do not confine themselves to pro- 
ducing the mango tree alone ; they will bring forth 
several of the well-known trees of India, but the 
mango is their favorite. 

The Chinese jugglers have a trick which is a com- 
bination of the two which we have just described. 
The juggler has a boy to aid him, and the boy is 
supposed to be (and generally is) his own son. He 
quarrels with the boy and kills him, having pre- 
viously planted a melon seed on the spot where 


JUGGLERS OF THE ORIENT. 


101 


the boy falls. He dismembers the boy, throws the 
pieces together and covers them with a blanket. 
In a little while the blanket is raised, and it is 
found that the boy has quite disappeared ; in his 
place is a melon, which has grown from the seed 
that was planted in the ground, though some- 
times the planting is done in a flower pot filled 
with loose earth. Then one of the bystanders, 
possibly a confederate, asks that the melon shall 
be made to disappear as the boy did. 

The blanket is again thrown on the ground, and 
raised after an interval of a few minutes. The 
melon has disappeared, and there is absolutely 
nothing under the blanket. It is again dropped 
and raised, and there is the boy safe and 
unharmed, and ready to accept the coin which is 
thrown into the ring. 

Many of the tricks of the Chinese jugglers have 
been seen in America, as the Chinese have no great 
objections to traveling and will readily negotiate 
for foreign tours. But the case is different with the 
jugglers of India ; no good performer can by any 
means be induced to cross “the black water,” as 
the sea is called, and though the most liberal offers 
have been made to them they have steadily 
refused. Neither will they sell the secret of their 
tricks to foreigners, and it is for this reason that 
no one has yet found an explanation of the basket 
trick or of that of the mango. The common per- 
formers are ready enough to dispose of what is 


102 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


not worth the purchase, but those of the higher 
class are entirely different. It is said that the best 
tricks of the conjurers have descended from father 
to son through many generations and are kept 
with the greatest care. 

Jugglery was practiced among the ancient 
Egyptians, and has continued in the land of the 
Pharoahs down to the present time. Among the 
ancients it was associated with sorcery, and this 
has been the case in all countries and in all ages 
among the most ignorant class of the people. A 
favorite trick of the Egyptian jugglers at the pres- 
ent time is to be tied naked in a bag that is appar- 
ently empty when they enter it ; after a time they 
emerge with garments covering them, and bearing 
plates and baskets of food in their hands. During 
my first visit to Egypt I saw a juggler that would 
produce live chickens, rabbits and vsnakes from an 
apparently empty shell, into which he blew before 
each production. He squatted on the ground, 
and had nothing in sight but the shell ; two boys 
assisted him, but they were not once detected in 
passing anything into his hands. Then he caused 
an apparently empty box to become filled with 
pancakes, which he told his boys to eat. They 
refused to eat the cakes without honey, whereupon 
he picked up a jar which was empty, as was evi- 
dent from his holding it bottom upward ; as soon 
as he had reversed it the jar was full of honey, and 
the boys then had the sauce for their cakes. When 


JUGGLERS OF THE ORIENT. 


103 


they had finished eating they ealled for water to 
wash their hands, whereupon he eaused the jar to 
be filled with pure water in the same way that it 
was filled with honey. 

Many of the so-called miracles of the priests of 
ancient Egypt, Greece and other countries are 
now known to have been nothing else than 
sleight-of-hand tricks, and some of them were of a 
very clumsy character. The statues that spoke 
oracles were hollow, and the spirit voice which 
was so highly revered was simply that of a priest 
who was concealed in the figure. The vocal 
Memnon that greeted the first rays of the rising 
sun stands to-day where it stood three thousand 
years ago, but in these modern times there is none 
so poor to do it reverence. Kings and princes 
traveled far and waited long that they might hear 
the supernatural sounds which are to-day evoked 
for ordinary mortals by the Arab guides, who 
gladly for a trifling fee climb to the lap of the sit- 
ting Colossus and, quite concealed in its lap, 
repeat the tricks of the ancient priests of Isis. 












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THE SERF’S REVENGE. 



S' Irkutsk = 


D uring the revolution in Poland, in 
8 1830-31, there were many Rus- 
Hp. „ t sians living near the 
Polish frontier who 
‘ beeame more or less 
involved in the 
movement. Many of them sympathized with the 
Poles, and where they eould not publiely take 
part in the revolution they did so privately. 
Some gave money to the insurgent eause, and 
while they would not inform the government 
offieials of any plans of the eonspirators, they 
were ever ready to tell the latter what the govern- 
ment was doing against them. Their houses fre- 
quently gave eoneealment to the messengers of the 
Poles when pursued by the government seouts, 
and furnished eonvenient hiding-plaees for ref- 
ugees, who found their own homes too hot to 
hold them. A great many proprietors of landed 
estates were suspeeted of disloyalty, though it 
was often diffieult to prove it against them. 
They were able to eoneeal their true eharacter in 
mueh the same way that some of the residents of 


lOG 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


the border states during our late war used to pre- 
tend to be on both sides of the political fence at 
the same moment, and favored the Union or the 
Rebellion as best served their purpose. 

The government made a great many arrests 
among these frontier residents, and held investiga- 
tions over their conduct. Some were discharged 
on giving proof of their loyalty, or on no evidence 
being found against them ; others were imprisoned 
on account of the suspicions against them, and 
when there was proof of their disloyalty they 
were banished to Siberia. The banishment was in 
proportion to the extent of their offense, and 
varied all the way from a few years up to the 
duration of the natural life of the offender. Some 
were marched in chains over the long road into 
Northern Asia, and frec|uently their journey lasted 
more than two years before they reached their 
destination. More distinguished prisoners were 
entitled to ride, and went forward day and night 
with great rapidity; thus they traveled in a few 
weeks the road that the pedestrian prisoners were 
many months in passing to the end. 

Among the residents on the Russian frontier at 
that time was a nobleman named Dolaeff, who 
had served in his youth at the court of the 
emperor at St. Petersburg. The atmosphere of 
the court did not suit him, and so after a few 
years he left the service, and retired to his estate, 
where he hoped to live in peace. He formed an 


1'HE serf’s revenge. 


107 


acquaintance with a few noblemen living near 
him, and made occasional visits to Warsaw 
whenever the solitude of his country -place began 
to weary him. By and by the insurrection broke 
out, and speedily assumed the proportions of a 
revolution. Most of the Poles espoused the 
cause ; some of the Russians living on the frontier 
declared in their favor, and others against them ; 
while still others, as before stated, remained, or 
professed to remain, neutral. 

Of this last number was Dolaeif. He argued 
that as he had served in the army, and had 
always been thoroughly loyal to his emperor, the 
latter could need no special proof of his adhesion 
to the government eause. On the other hand, his 
estate was so near the frontier that if he pro- 
nounced emphatically in opposition to the rebel- 
lion, his life and property would be in great dan- 
ger from the hostility of the Poles. He remained 
quietly at home in attendance upon his affairs, 
and hoped to escape all trouble. 

Among the serfs on DolaefPs estate, the master 
was not particularly popular. He was imperious, 
and often cruel, and in the collection of the obrok, 
or annual dues, from such as had control of their 
own time, he was never merciful. He demanded 
always the last copeck upon an agreement, and 
no plea of sickness, bad harvests or low markets 
had any weight with him. Occasionally a serf was 
severely beaten at his order for some trifling 


108 


THE TALltING HANDKERCHIEF. 


offense, and he was never backward in demanding, 
on all occasions, the exercise of his full seignorial 
rights. Masters of this class were in about the 
same proportion among Russian noblemen, under 
the system of serfdom, as were men of the Legree 
stamp in the days of American slavery. No one, 
whatever his political faith, will deny that the 
world would be better off if it contained fewer of 
these petty tyrants. 

Ivan Stepanof was one of the most intelligent 
serfs on the estate, and often assisted his fellow- 
laborers in getting out of difficulties with each 
other, or with their master. 

Dolaefif regarded him very 
favorably, and generally 
showed him more kindness than 
was his wont toward others. 

Ivan was prosperous in a world- 
ly point of view, and on two or 
three occasions had relieved 


DOLAEFF * * * FELLED HIM TO THE GROUND. 

Dolaeff from financial embarrassments. But 



THE serf’s revenge. 


109 


one day, after a heavy loss at cards, Dolaeff sent 
for Ivan, and asked him for a sum of money 
greater than he could command. Ivan protested 
that he had not the amount, and could not raise 
it. Dolaeff, in a fit of anger, struck his serf a blow 
that felled him to the ground ; then, kicking him in 
the side, he turned away, and just as he was get- 
ting out of earshot he heard Ivan mutter : 

“I will have my revenge for this.” 

A week later Dolaeff was arrested on a charge 
of aiding the insurrection. It was shown that 
several rebels had been concealed in his house at 
different times, and that one, with whom he was 
particularly intimate, was the chief of a gang of 
conspirators whose place of meeting was at W ar- 
saw. He was taken to the nearest government 
town, and in due time tried, found guilty, and 
sentenced to Siberia for life. Ivan was not to be 
found at the time of the arrest, and the master 
naturally attributed it to the revenge that his 
servant had promised to obtain for the blow and 
kick he received. 

Dolaeff was ordered to be taken to Siberia as 
rapidly as possible. He was kept a day or two in 
prison after his sentence, and then placed in a 
telyaga, or common country wagon, and started 
on his long journey eastward. By his side was a 
soldier, to whom he was chained, while a pos- 
tillion sat on the box with the driver, and allowed 
the latter to waste no time. They halted at the 


110 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


stations only long enough to change horses and 
obtain food. Occasionally the postillion and the 
soldier exchanged places, so as to allow the former 
to obtain the sleep he could not easil}^ get while vsit- 



ting bolt upright on the box. The telyaga is an 
ordinary wagon, mounted on wooden springs, 
which have very little elasticity; and, where the 
roads are rough, the jolting is very uncomfortable. 



THE serf’s revenge. 


Ill 


To ease the motion a little, the traveler generally 
fills the vehicle with straw or hay, and lies, half- 
sitting and half-reclining, upon it. The horses 
are driven at the best of their speed, if the postil- 
lion demands it, as he generally does. Most trav- 
elers are anxious to proceed as rapidly as possible, 
in order that the journey may be ended at the 
earliest moment. Whether they are on pleasure 
or business, or going into exile, they are quite 
willing that their time on the road shall be brief. 

The exiles who go on foot rest every third day, 
but those who ride make no delay. Very often 
the pedestrian prisoners ask to be allowed to go 
forward without these third days of rest, but the 
request is not allowed on account of the confusion 
it would make among the convoys of prisoners on 
the road. It is quite desirable that proper dis- 
tances should be maintained between the traveling 
parties, so that no two of them shall be at the 
same station at once. The stations are strong 
buildings surrounded with palisaded fences, and 
generally a little distance from the villages. They 
are not very neatly kept, and in summer the 
prisoners prefer to camp on the ground and sleep 
in the open air, either in the station-yard or out- 
side of it. 

Dolaeff's guard showed him every attention con- 
sistent with his duties, but as the guard is held to 
a strict responsibility in case of the escape of a 
prisoner, he could not allow him many privileges 


112 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


or relax his vigilance toward him. Sometimes at 
the station he prolonged the halts more than 
was necessary for refreshment and the change of 
horses, but he could not allow man}^ delays of this 
kind lest the increase of time over the usual length 
of the journey should attract attention. The 
postillion looked upon the journc}^ much as his 
prisoner did, and often bemoaned his fate in being 
assigned to that duty. “ Poor wretch that I am,” 
said he; “I am going to Siberia as well as you, 
and it may be months before I am able to return. 
What if I should be forgotten, and allowed to 
stay there for years ! ” 

Day by day and night by night they rolled 
along. They passed Moscow — the holy Moscow 
— beloved by every true Russian, and venerated 
by the subjects of the czar with a feeling akin to 
that with which every true Moslem regards the 
birthplace of Mohammed. They skirted the 
banks of the Volga, and despite his mental depres- 
sion at the thought that every step was bearing 
him further from home and nearer exile, Dolaefif 
grew enraptured at the picturesque scenery which 
each turn of the road and river unfolded to his 
eye. Rough and huge-bearded ferrymen carried 
them over its waters just as the domes and towers 
of Kazan glittered in the sunlight above the 
battlemented walls, where, three hundred years 
ago, the Tartar power was dominant, and only 
expelled after a long and bloody conflict, and the 


THE serf’s revenge. 


113 


loss of many Russian lives. They followed the 
lovely valley of the Kama till the peaks of the 
Ural mountains rose into view, like a wall built 
between the European and Asiatic world. Climb- 
ing the wooded slopes, they passed the boundary, 
and entered Northern Asia ; two hours later they 
halted in Ekaterinburg, the first city on the east- 
ern slope of the mountains, and nestled in a 
charming position on the banks of the little River 
Isset. On and on they went among the foot hills 
that every hour grew smaller until they reached 
the great Barabinsky steppe, which seemed to 
stretch away limitless as the ocean, and appar- 
ently as trackless. Along the level steppe they 
galloped, with little to vary the monotony of 
their journey. Ferrying the Irtish and the Ob, 
those great rivers of Western Siberia, passing 
town after town, and village after village, they 
came at length to Irkutsk, the capital of Eastern 
Siberia, when Dolaeff was delivered into the hands 
of the official, and his weary postillion released 
from further care. 

The prisoner, after a few days’ rest, was 
appointed to settle as a colonist a thousand miles 
to the northward, and once more his journey was 
resumed. When this destination was reached, his 
duties were assigned to him. With a fellow- 
prisoner — sentenced for the same cause and to a 
similar period of exile — he was assigned to the 
hard duties of a farmer in a new country. A 


114 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


quantity of land equal to about fifty acres was 
given to them in the Amlley of a small river, and 
they were at liberty to cut as much wood and 
timber as they pleased from the public domain 
that surrounded them. They were supplied with 
axes and all other tools necessary for clearing 
their ground, building a house, and tilling the soil. 
The government gave them food and clothing, 
seed for planting their fields, and everything abso- 
lutely necessary to their subsistence for the first 
two years of their residence; at the end of that 
time they were expected to take care of them- 
selves. 

Once a week the two prisoners were required to 
report to the starost, or head man of the village, 
four miles away. They endeavored to plan an 
escape, but could see no possibility of leaving the 
country. The road was long; it was more than 
three thousand miles to European Russia, and at 
almost every step there were difficulties to be 
encountered. They had no passports, and with- 
out them no one can travel in Siberia ; they could 
not pass in the disguise of peasants, as their 
language would betray them; they had no money 
for their expenses on the road, and would be cer- 
tain of detection and severe punishment. So, 
after canvassing the possibilities of escape, and 
finding the chances altogether against them, 
Polaeff gnd his companion abandoned hope, and 




emperor glanced at it and passed on.” 



THE serf’s revenge. 


11 ? 


m the sadness of despair pursued their dreary 
labors as colonists in Siberia. 

After the arrest of his master, Ivan was drafted 
into the Russian service and assigned to a bat- 
talion of the army about to move upon Warsaw. 
Dolaeff’s estate, like all the property of men con- 
victed of treason, passed into the possession of 
the government and was managed in the interest 
of the crown. Ivan’s battalion was not long in 
finding active service, and took part in the battles 
that had for their object the capture of Warsaw. 
In the last attack upon the fortified capital, in 
September, 1831, he distinguished himself by his 
skill and bravery, and was mentioned in the 
reports of his regimental commander as worthy 
of an officer’s commission. 

The gulf between the Russian soldier and the 
Russian officer is a wide one ; it cannot be easily 
crossed ; but when a man has once left the ranks 
and passed the gulf, his promotion is compara- 
tively easy. Ivan devoted his whole time and 
attention to his duties, and won the admiration 
of his superiors. Step by step he advanced; the 
battalion was ordered to St. Petersburg, and four 
years after his entry into the service Ivan found 
himself on duty at the palace, and frequently under 
the eye of the emperor. 

Nicholas was pleased with him, and one day 
said to Ivan that he would grant any favor he 
might ask, provided it were not too great. Ivan 


118 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


busied himself a day or two in the preparation of 
a paper, and then tremblingly presented it to the 
emperor. The latter glanced a moment at the 
document, frowned, and turned away. 

That evening a courier left the palace and hast- 
ened away eastward as fast as his horses could 
carry him. Four months later he returned and 
with him Dolaelf. They waited in the ante-room 
until Nicholas was ready to see them and were 
summoned to his presence. 

“Your majesty,” said the courier, “I have 
brought the man for whom you sent me. This is 
Paul Dolaeff.” 

“Send for the lieutenant of the guard,” was the 
only response of the emperor. A messenger left 
the room and in a few moments Ivan was brought 
before the czar, and into the presence of his old 
master. 

“You are pardoned,” said Nicholas to Dolaeff; 
“and your estates, titles, and civil rights are 
restored to you. This meritorious officer, whom I 
promised to grant any favor he would ask, instead 
of seeking promotion, interceded in your behalf, 
and to him you owe your release.” 

This was the revenge of Ivan Stepanof. 


THE HEAD-HUNTERS OF BORNEO. 



^NE of the odd customs of the island of 
Borneo in the Malay Archipelago is 
that of head-hunting. The settle- 
ment and permanent occupation of 
Borneo by Europeans have put an 
end to the practice in some quarters, 
especially along the sea-coast, but a long time 
must elapse before it is entirely out of fashion 
among the savage tribes. The aboriginal inhabi- 
tants of Borneo are called “Dyaks;” they are 
scattered in towns and villages all over the island, 
those on the coast living chiefly by fishing, while 
those of the interior are engaged in agriculture, 
gold-digging, camphor-collecting and other indus- 
tries peculiar to the land. They belong to the 
Malay race and are divided into tribes which differ 
considerably from each other, though there can be 
no doubt as to their common origin. Morally 
considered, they are superior to most of the 
Malays, and their principal vices are those they 
have obtained from intercourse with the Chinese 
and other foreigners. 



120 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


The coast Dyaks were formerly much given to 
piracy, which they followed as a regular industr}^ 
but it was long ago broken up by foreign ships of 
war. When a chief wished to engage in a piratical 
venture, he gathered his fighting men together, 
and then proceeded with his proas, or boats to an 
island in some channel where native and other 
vessels were likely to pass. A camp would be 
established at the mouth of a river or in a bay 
that afforded shelter, and whenever a vessel came 
within reach, the proas would dart out and cap- 
ture her. If the crew were European, everybody 
was killed at once; if they were Malays, they 
were sold into slavery or held for ransom. Men 
who were otherwise honest and respectable, 
indulged in pirac}^ and could not understand the 
prejudices of Europeans against it. 

Sometimes the heads of prisoners were cut off, 
and this was generally the case if the captors 
belonged to the head-hunting tribes. Even if they 
had no use for the heads on their own account, 
they found them useful as articles of trade with 
the interior Dyaks, generally called Hill Tribes, as 
the latter were nearly all head-hunters, and it 
is among them that the practice survives 
to-day. Head-hunting was a pursuit just as legiti- 
mate as that of slave-trading or piracy among the 
Dyaks, or that of collecting books or autographs 
among civilized people. Every man was taught 
from his infancy that the owner of every head 


THE HEAD-HUNTERS OF BORNEO. 


121 


which he cut off would be his servant in the next 



/rirrif 


A HEAD-IIUNTER IN FULL DRESS. 


world, and the larger the number he could obtain, 
the greater would be his importanee. No man 
could marry until he had obtained a human head. 





122 


THE TALKING IlANDKERClIIEE. 


It was not absolutely necessary for him to secure it 
with his own hand; and therefore, when a man 
became of marriageable age, his friends often came 
to his aid, and went on a hunting expedition on 
his behalf It was necessary that the head should 
come from the body of some one of another tribe, 
and therefore the hunting-party went stealthily to 
the neighborhood of another village than their own, 
and lay in wait by the side of the path till some 
one happened along whom they could decapitate. 
The head being obtained, they hurried home with 
the prize, which was as important in the Dyak 
wedding ceremonial as the ring is in a Christian 
one. 

When a man of importance died, he could not be 
buried until a head had been obtained, so as to 
insure his having a servant to wait on him in the 
next world. When two tribes that have been at 
war had agreed upon terms of peace, each of them 
delivered to the other a victim, whose head was 
immediately cut off and kept as a souvenir of the 
treaty, serving, in fact, the same purpose as a 
written document. Sometimes the chiefs used to 
start out on raiding excursions solely for the pur- 
pose of obtaining a supply of heads. With a large 
force of fighting men, the^^ surrounded villages, 
remained perfectly quiet for hours, and suddenly 
at an early hour in the morning, set fire to 
the thatched huts, and speared or cut down the 
people as fast as they came in sight. Not one of 


1'JlE HEAD-HUNTERS OF BORNEO. 


123 


the inhabitants would be allowed to escape; the 
heads of the men were cut off and so were those of 
some of the women and children. Such of the lat- 
ter as were saved from death were carried into 
slavery. The heads were dried and used for house- 
hold ornaments, and the teeth were usually 
knocked out and strung into necklaces. None of 
the Dyaks could tell where the custom arose; it 
was mentioned in all the traditions of the tribes, 
and that was all they knew about it. 

One of my friends who once made an excursion 
into the interior of Borneo had an experience 
with the Dyak head-hunters, which I will endeavor 
to tell as nearly as possible in his own words. He 
told it to me one afternoon in Singapore, while we 
were watching a group of Malays engaged in 
relieving a nativeboat of its curious cargo of birds, 
beeswax, camphor and other products of the 
Archipelago. 

“ It happened a great many years ago,” said he, 
“when I was much younger and far less cautious 
than I am now. I did not believe half of the 
stories that had been told me of the head-hunters, 
and when cautioned about venturing among them 
I laughed at the suggestion. 

“I was on a schooner that traded along the 
coast, and was very favorably impressed with the 
Dyaks that we met. They were far more honest 
than most others of the Malay race, and also 
more robust and vigorous ; the men were finely 


124 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


formed and the women were prettier than most of 
the Orientals. There was one Dyak lady, the wife 
of a Chinese merchant at Sinkawan, who would 
have taken the prize at a ‘beauty show,’ beyond a 
doubt. She was much lighter in color than most 
of the Malays, and had long eyelashes and a com- 
plexionlike a peach. The Dyak women have a habit 
of keeping their eyes half closed, and this adds to 
their beauty, at least to most Europeans. Many 
of the Chinese in Borneo are married to Dyak 
wives, and they told me that a Dyak woman pre- 
fers a Chinese husband to one of her own race, for 
the reason that the Chinese husband will work to 
support her, while a Dyak one will not. 

“At Sinkawan I met some Dyaks, from the inte- 
rior, who had brought down a quantity of fine 
gold-dust, which they readily sold to the Chinese 
traders. I had a fancy for going into the hill coun- 
try, as I thought it would be a novel sort of adven- 
ture, and, perhaps, I might pick up some of the 
dust that has been the object of man’s cupidity 
ever since the world began, or, at any rate, ever 
since the value of gold became known. A young 
English sailor, whom I met at Sinkawan, offered 
to go with me, and we soon patched up a partner- 
ship. The schooner was to go to another port 
and then return to Sinkawan, and I thought I 
should have ample time for the journey. Part of 
the way we were to go in boats on a river, and the 
rest by walking overland. 


THE HEAD-HUNTERS OF BORNEO. 


125 


“Jack, my sailor friend, knew something of the 
language of the Dyaks, and I could speak a few 
words. We engaged two Chinese to go with us, 
and then made terms with the Dyaks, who were to 
accompany us to their home and show us where 
the gold was found. We promised that if they did 
so we would give them a liberal quantity of the 


they most desired, provided, of 
were brought safely back to the 
ordinary incidents of the jour- 
not care about. Everything 


goods that 
course, we 
coast. The 
ney you will 
went well, so 
far as the 
attentions of 
our escort 

were concerned, but we found 
it very tough work to travel 
in the native paths. These peo- 
ple all go barefooted, and they 
put one foot in front of the 
other, so that the paths in 
course of time are worn 
into channels five or six 
inches deep and just the 
width of one’s foot. Our shoes 
were so wide and inelastic that the}'' 
stuck in the channels, and we had 
not gone many miles before the 
soles had been quite torn from the 
uppers. Then we wrapped our feet 


126 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


in cloths, like moccasins, but they did not afford 
much jDrotection, and we were very soon a weary 
and footsore pair. But we trudged on, determined 
to get to the gold mines, though more than once 
we were on the point of turning back in despair. 

“When we stopped at night, the Dyaks made 
little huts, in which we all slept — two in a hut — 
and we had the sides closed in very tight to keep 
out the snakes, which were numerous in that part 
of the island. We lived on rice, which was carried 
by every member of the party excepting Jack and 
myself, and it seemed like magic the way the 
Dyaks and Chinese prepared their rice whenever 
we came to a halt. They steamed it over a fire 
instead of boiling it as we do, and they made it so 
light that every grain was separate by itself. 

“ The third night after leaving the river we went 
to sleep as usual, but along after midnight Jack 
was waked by something crawling over him. He 
yelled: ‘Snake!’ and jumped up, and as he did 
so he almost upset our little shelter. By the time 
he got to his feet he found that the supposed snake 
was only one of the green twigs that held the hut 
together; and after swearing awhile about it he 
lay down again. Of course he had waked me up 
completely, so that I couldn’t get to sleep again. 
I lay awake an hour or more; and as the place 
was rather stuffy, I opened the top a little and 
peeped out through the chinks, and then opened 
the entrance, thinking to go outside, 


THE HEAD-HUNTERS OF BORNEO. 


127 


‘‘The moon was on its last quarter, and the 
stars were in the sky ; but moon and stars could 
Only very dimly light the dense forest where we 
were. I thought I saw something moving among 
the trees, but concluded it was only a shadow ; 
then I saw it again and felt more certain, and 
very soon I made out the form of a man creeping 
up toward one of the Dyak shelters. 

“Then I knew what it was. We were sur- 
rounded by a party of head-hunters, and they 
were bent on taking our lives. 

“Jack hadn’t got fairly to sleep, and I whispered 
to him and said the head-hunters were after us. 

“We had chaffed each other so much about them 
that he thought I was joking. It was the old 
story of the boy that cried : ‘ Wolf! ’ when no wolf 
was about. 

“Jack said all the fellows wanted was our 
heads, and they wotild n’t trouble us afterward, 
provided we gave up our skulls without making a 
fuss. 

“Then I spoke to him a second time in a low but 
very earnest whisper, and I not only spoke but I 
grabbed him by the arm. He knew by this that I 
was in earnest, and was on his feet very quickly. 

“Each of us had a revolver and knew how to 
use it, but in the dim light it was impossible to 
take good aim, and we didn’t want to throw 
away any shots. There were a dozen or more of 
the rascals creeping up to the huts, and each of 


128 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


them had a coal with which to set fire to our shel- 
ters. But these shelters are not dry like the huts 
in the villages, being made principally of green 
stuff, and it wasn’t likely they would burn very 
fast. 

“The fellow that came up to our hut stooped 
down to light a fire as near the ground as possi- 
ble, and luckily he was on the side away from the 
entrance. Jack was a powerful young chap, and 
he sneaked around outside and jumped on the 
scoundrel, clutching him by the throat at the same 
time, so that he never made a sound. He strangled 
him in less than two seconds, or more likely broke 
his neck. 

“ At the same time I trampled out the fire, and 
then we were ready to attend to some of our other 
visitors. We drew our pistols and went for them. 

“And we made lively work, you may believe. 
We shot down five of our assailants before they 
could rise to their feet, and then we got two more 
of them before they knew what we were about. 
The sound of the fire-arms scared all that we did 
not hit, and they made the best possible time into 
the forest, though not till one of them gave Jack a 
very ugly cut with a knife. The Dyaks had no fire- 
arms, and at that time they had an idea that 
there was no limit to the distance a bullet would 
go. The fight was all over in less time than I’m 
telling about it, and our people came out of their 
huts almost crazy with fright. 





“jack JUMPED ON THE FEEEOW AND STRANGLED HIM.” 





THE HEAD-HUNTERS OF BORNEO. 


131 



“There was no more sleeping that night, 
next morning our Dyak friends cut 
off the heads of the men that had fal- 
len under our bullets, and also the head of 
the one that Jack choked to death. Jack’s 
wound and our sore feet made it unadvis- 
able for us to go further. 

“The Dyaks were so grateful to us for 
our double service — saving their own 
heads and supplying them with such a 
good stock to carry home — that they 
escorted us back to the coast, and would 
take nothing for their compensation. 
They gave each of us a knife or sword 
of Dyak manufacture, to keep as a 
memento of the trip ; mine is one of the 
finest bits of steel you ever saw, and has 
a blade about two feet long. 

“I have cut a large nail in two with 
it, and the edge was not harmed in 
the least ; and I have heard that 
these knives will cut through the bar- 
rel of a musket, when wielded by a 
strong man. Come around to my 
lodgings, and I’ll show you my sou- 
venir of that trip.” — [New York 
Ledger.'] 


The 



m 


\ 


A FIGHT WITH A TIGER. 


'T. EVANS invited me to go to 
his tea plantation up eountry 
and stay as long as I liked 
and by way of allurement he 
promised me a tiger hunt. “You 
ean have it in any way that suits 
you,” said he, “ from a myehan to a battue with 
elephants, but in the latter ease you will have to 
stand the expense, as my purse won’t afford it, 
and a tidy bit of expense it will be. Just before I 
eame down to Caleutta I heard of a man-eater 
about fifty miles from my plaee, and if you say the 
word we’ll try for his hide and the government 
reward. 

“You will be safe enough if you hunt from a 
myehan,” said the eaptain, “a mode of entertain- 
ment that is praetieed more by the native prinees 
than by Europeans. They have stands or stone 
towers (myehans) ereeted along a valley where a 
tiger is likely to run when driven out of the jungle. 
The hunters get into these stands and then send 
the beaters to drive the game out of its place of 

133 



134 


I'HE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


concealment. As the tigers run along the valley 
they are shot and the men who shoot them, or at 
them, are perfectly safe from attack. I never tried 
this form of hunting but once, and then it was at 
the invitation of a native prince. I killed a tiger 
as he was trotting leisurely along the valley and 
not fifty yards in front of me — killed him at the 
first shot. When satisfied that he was dead I 
went out with the attendants to bring him in, 
and I found that the beast had a collar around his 
neck with my host’s name on it. The polite prince 
had let the tiger loose so that our hunt should not 
be without result.” 

The captain was just starting to give an 
account of a battue with elephants and also of a 
hunt on foot when his friend the major interrupted 
him. 

“Tell us about your ten minutes with the tiger 
in Mysore,” said the major. “There’s a story of 
a creature that was very famous in his day.” 

“Yes, he was,” replied the captain, “but I must 
have a fresh cigar before I tell about him.” Suit- 
ing the action to the word, he lighted a Havana 
which the major proffered, settled back into his 
chair, was silent for a few moments, and then 
began his narration. 

“I was serving in the Fusileers and my 

detachment had been two or three months in 
Mysore, the capital of the district of the same 
name, when word came that there was a man- 


A FIGHT WITH A TIGER. 


135 


eater at work about a hundred miles to the east 
of the eity, supposed to be the 
same that had been in the 
southern part of the dis- . - 

triet for a year or 
more. I obtained 
leave to go for 
him ; Thomson 
asked for leave 
at the same 
time and 

go it, 


and away we went 
together. Poor old 
Thomson ! Little did he think it was to be his 
last hunt. 

“We took along our favorite shikarry (hunts- 
man), who had been with us in several hunts and 
knew his business. He gathered a party of about 
forty beaters and while getting them together he 
made diligent inquiries as to where the tiger had 
last been seen. He hadn’t been heard of any- 
where for several days and so we determined to 
wait for fresh news before starting out. 

“We hadn’t long to wait, for the very evening 
that the shikarry had finished organizing his 
party the tiger carried off a young woman who 
was walking along a path not fifty yards from 



136 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


the village where she lived. Two men were not 
more than a dozen yards behind her when the 
beast sprang out from under a korinda bush, 
seized the woman by the neck and carried her off 
as easil}" as though she had been a partridge or a 
rabbit. 

“By daylight the next morning we were on his 
track and followed it for half a mile to where, at 
the side of a great rock, he had devoured all he 
cared to of the body of his victim. Poor girl! 
She was to have been married that day week ; at 
any rate, that’s what the head man at the village 
told us. 

“Half a mile further on there was a patch of 
jungle and the shikarry tracked the beast quite 
near its edge and was satisfied that our game was 
concealed somewhere in the thicket. Our party 
was not large enough to surround the jungle, and 
we sent to the neighboring villages and obtained 
as many men as we could to act as beaters and 
frighten the animal out so that we could get a 
shot at him.” 

I was about to ask why they did not go 
directly into the jungle and shoot him in his lair. 
The captain anticipated my inquiry, as he imme- 
diately continued . 

“If we had wanted to commit suicide we would 
have gone into the jungle and hunted the fellow 
out. It is a very unsafe thing to do, as the tiger 
sees you long before you can possibly see him, and 


A FIGHT WITH A TIGER. 


137 


if he has no good way of escape he will turn the 
tables on you without asking your leave. Almost 
from under’ your feet he will rise and make a 
spring at you, and there is rarely time to use your 
rifle as he comes on. Many a hunter has left his 
bones in India by following a tiger into the 
jungle, and especially by going there in pursuit of 
one that he has wounded. 

“ In little more than an hour we had the jungle 
surrounded by the beaters. Thomson and I 
selected our stands about fifty yards apart, where 
we thought the beast would try to escape, and 
then the signal was given for the beaters to begin. 
They made a great noise with drums and tom- 
toms, they threw stones into the thicket, and 
every little while they fired off their old muskets 
to add to the tumult. On the side where 
Thomson and I were stationed there was no 
noise, as we. wanted the tiger to believe that all 
the danger lay where the racket was being made 
and so he would run in our direction. 

“The man-eater came out of the jungle, not 
creeping stealthily as we had expected, but mak- 
ing great bounds into the air at the top of his 
speed. Thomson fired and so did I ; but neither of 
our shots was fatal, though both took effect. 
With a roar that seemed to shake the ground the 
brute turned and sprang at Thomson— sprang 
upon him and threw him to the ground, and then 
grasped him by the throat and shook him as a cat 


138 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


shakes a mouse. I dared not fire for fear of hitting 
my friend ; but I stood with my rifle ready for a 
shot the moment the tiger should drop* his yietim. 
Thomson made no moyement ; quite likely he was 
killed by the first blow of the tiger or stunned by 
the fall, and if not then stunned he was eertain to 
ha ye been rendered insensible by the shaking he 
receiyed. The habit of all animals of the eat 
speeies to shake their prey is really a mereiful one, 
as it stupefies them and so renders death painless. 
Seyeral hunters who haye been rescued from the 
jaws of the tiger haye said that they were with- 
out sensation after the beast had shaken them in 
the way I haye told you. 

“The tiger dropped Thomson and raised its 
head, and then I fired in the hope of making a 



“the tiger raised its head.’’ 

deadly shot. Then the beast turned on me and I 
got in another shot which stopped it for a 



A FKiH'r WitH A Ti6ER. 


1^9 


moment, just long enough for me to spring into 
the branehes of a small tree under which I was 
standing. In springing there I dropped my rifle, 
and so found myself without a weapon other 
than the knife at my belt. 

“The tiger tried to reach me in the tree. He 
might have done so had not one of his fore legs 
been shattered by a bullet, probably the last one I 
fired. There was a great gash across his head, 
but it was only a skin wound, the thick skull hav- 
ing glanced away the bullet like the side of a gun- 
boat. Then there was a wound across his back, 
but I could easily see that it was not serious. A 
tiger will stand a great deal of lead in him, and, 
on the other hand, he is easily killed if you can 
only touch certain parts. 

“He crouched at the foot of the tree when he 
found he could not reach me, and there he lay 
growling, lashing his tail from side to side, and 
every few moments giving a roar that could be 
heard for a long distance. If I had not lost my 
rifle I could have settled him very quickly, but to 
attack him with a knife would have been madness, 
and my only hope was in the shikarry hearing the 
roar and coming to my aid. I knew none of the 
other natives would venture in the vicinity, and 
already the most of them had quite likely taken 
to their heels and fled to their villages. 

“The shikarry came as I hoped and expected. 
As he approached I indicated by signs for him to 


140 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


take Thomson’s rifle, which was more eflective 
than his own, and finish the beast. He nodded 
compliance, took the rifle from the ground where 
it lay, filled the magazine from the pouch of car- 
tridges on the body of my dead comrade, and 
then, while I held the attention of the tiger b}^ 
making menacing motions and pretending that 
I was about to descend to the ground, the hunter 
crept within twenty yards of the tree and stretched 



the animal lifeless with a bullet through his heart. 
Another bullet followed, and also another to make 
sure work, and then I came to the ground to meas- 
ure my late antagonist. 

“From tip to tip he was eleven feet, seven and a 
half inches in length, the longest tiger by more 
than twelve inches that I ever secured. It was 
fully ten minutes from the time I sprang into the 
tree until the shikarry came in sight, and the long- 
est ten minutes I ever had in my life.” 


CAUGHT IN A TYPHOON. 



E were running down the 
coast of China from Shang- 
hai to Hong Kong ; it was in 
the month of August and the 
southwest monsoon was blowing strong against 
us so that our headway was slow. The pas- 
sengers in the saloon were less than a dozen, but 
they represented foar nationalities — English, 
French, German and American — and as all had 
seen a fair share of the world we got along admi- 
rably together. The captain was a ruddy English- 
man, who had been in Asiatic waters for several 
years; the accommodations of the steamer were 
excellent, and altogether the voyage, until we 
were off the port of Amoy and some fifty miles 
from land, was a delightful one. 

I had been on deck conning with a glass the 
coast of the FloweryKingdom, the junks and other 
ciaft that studded the waters, and the play of 
light and wind on the sea where the monsoon was 
exerting its force. Something in the appearance 
of one of the junks attracted piy attention, and I 


142 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


strolled in the direction of the chartroom to ask 
the captain about it. 

He came out of the chartroom as I neared the 
door. The look of anxiety on his face told me 
that questions would not then be in order, and I 
refrained. He hurried along without noticing my 
presence and went straight to the bridge, whence 
he shouted some kind of an order through the 
speaking-tube that led to the engineer’s room. 
Then he called for the first and second officers, and 
they speedily went to the bridge and reported for 
duty. 

“What’s the matter?” I asked of the third 
officer, who was superintending the relashing of 
one of the boats on the starboard side of the 
ship. 

“Matter enough ! You’ll find out for yourself in 
an hour or two. We’ll have a typhoon on us 
before long unless the signs are wrong.” 

Then he turned his attention to the work before 
him and I went below to observe the aneroid 
barometer hanging in the saloon. I had looked 
at it within two hours and mentally noted how it 
then stood ; it had fallen rapidly since my observa- 
tion, and as I tapped gently on the glass front 
the dial descended perceptibly. In the regions and 
season of the typhoons one of these fearful storms 
is foretold by a rapid fall of the barometer, and a 
careful mariner keeps a sharp watch on that 


CAUGHT IN A TYPHOON. 


143 


instrument from beginning to end of the nautieal 
day. 

Soon I was on deek again and found the wind 
had increased and its direction changed several 
points. The course of the steamer was altered so 
as to bring the wind on the port beam and thus 
carry the vessel away from the center of the 
storm. In the northern hemisphere the typhoon 
whirls in a direction opposite to that of the hands 
of a clock, from right to left, while in the southern 
hemisphere it turns from left to right. “ Typhoon ” 
(great wind) is only the oriental name for a 
cyclone or hurricane; it is a circular storm from 
fifty to five hundred miles in diameter, and has a 
motion over the surface of the earth or water in 
addition to its whirling motion. Spin a top 
rapidly and while it is spinning let it move along 
the floor or pavement. This is an exact illustra- 
tion of the two motions of a typhoon. The 
nearer you get to the center the more violent is 
the wind, and hence the efibrt of a ship caught in a 
typhoon to sail toward the circumference. There 
is a general, though not universal, belief that the 
typhoon has a calm center a few miles in 
diameter. This belief is earnestly supported by 
some mariners and as earnestly opposed by 
others. So, too, is the theory that if a ship is once 
caught in the center of a typhoon she can never 
get out of it, 


144 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


Steadily the wind increased and the clouds 
became more and more dense. Everything about 
the ship was made as fast as possible, but in spite 
of all the lashings several articles were torn away 
and carried off into the seething waters. I had 
expected to see the waves run “mountain high,” 
but they did nothing of the kind ; the force of the 
wind was so great that waves could not form 
other than in that broken shape which we call “ a 
choppy sea.” Even the choppy sea disappeared 
after a time and the waters were blown flat just 
as you may see them on a small lake or pond 
swept by a gust of wind. The wind was blowing 
fully eighty miles an hour; fortunate indeed is it 
that the sea is smooth in a typhoon, as no ship 
that was ever built could withstand the force of 
such a high wind and a high sea at the same time. 

The sky darkened, the air was hot and stifling in 
spite of the rate at which the wind was blowing, 
and soon the rain fell in torrents. Everybody on 
deck was lashed to something, or clung with all 
his strength to prevent being blown overboard, 
and it occurred to me that the passengers would 
be safer below than above. Just as the thought 
came around the captain gave the order for us to 
descend, and the cabin-doors were soon closed 
upon us and securely lashed. Then we watched 
fora time through the bull’s-eye windows the effect 
of the wind upon the waters, but the spray and 
rain were so dense that very little could be vseen. 


CAUGHT IN A TYPHOON. 


145 


After a while we gathered about the saloon table ; 
the vessel was rolling and pitching so fearfully 
that we had to cling to the table and chairs in 
order to retain our places. We could hear the 
roaring of the wind, the swishing of the waters, 
the patter of the rain on the deck, and every few 
moments the steamer was tossed upward as 
though in a blanket in the hands of a thousand 
giants. 

One sound was most grateful to our ears, and 
that was the throb of the engine, which told that 
our machinery was intact. Nay, it was feeling 
rather than sound; the roar of the wind was so 
great the “choog, choog” of the engine was 
drowned and the pulsation was only perceptible 
through the trembling of our chairs and of the 
floor on which our feet rested. Half the time the 
screw seemed to be out of water and then it 
“raced” fearfully; as it plunged again it slowed 
almost to stopping and made our hearts rise in 
our throats lest it might not start again. 

Cards were proposed by one of the party, but 
nobody else cared to play and evidently that 
individual was not at all sorry that his proposal 
was rejected. Then we fell to telling stories of 
adventure; we had done a good deal of that 
hitherto during the voyage and some of the narra- 
tions had bordered on the miraculous. No one 
had ventured to suggest that affidavits should be 

attached to each of the anecdotes detailed, but I 
10 


146 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


am bound to say that it needed a stomach of the 
very highest capacity to swallow them all. But 
here in the typhoon there was a tendency to 
“tone” them, so our party in the cabin developed 
a regard for truthfulness when the chances were 
so many that we should be at the bottom of the 
China sea before sunset. 

In our party was a German, a handsome, vigor- 
ous man, who had taken little part in the conver- 
sation thus far in the voyage. Consequently the 
rest of us were a trifle surprised when he was the 
first to speak after the one whose adventure had 
just been narrated had paused. 

“I’ve been overboard in a typhoon,” said he, 
“and with no land in sight.” 

“Tell us about it,” said half a dozen of us 
almost in the same breath. 

“It was ten years ago,” he continued, “between 
Bankok and Hong Kong. I was on a German 
schooner that had been trading in the gulf of Siam 
and was on her way to Hong Kong. We were 
caught in a typhoon about one hundred miles off 
Hong Kong, and were in the worst of it. All our 
yard sails were carried away, our masts went by 
the board, and the wind finally turned us on our 
beam ends. Everybody who wasn’t lashed fast 
was carried into the sea and swept away in an 
instant. I was one of those who went overboard, 
and with me went a hencoop, which I managed to 
^ize as it drifted past me. The wind carried it so 


CAUGHT IN A TYPHOON. 


147 


rapidly that it fairh^ dragged me as a boat is 
towed at the stern of a steamboat. If I had not 



“l WAS OVERBOARD IN A TYPHOON ONCE.” 

clutched it at the instant I did it would have gone 
so fast that I could not have reached it by swim- 
ming. 

^‘In a minute or so after going over the rail I 
could see nothing of the schooner; neither could I 
see any of my companions who were with me in 
the water. The rope by which the hencoop had 
been lashed was still fastened to it, and I managed 


148 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


to pass it under my arms so that it gave me some 
support. And all the time the wind was blowing 



“I CLUNG WITH DESPERATION.” 


fearfully. I was blinded by the spray and the tor- 
rents of rain, and really I did not expect to live an 
hour where I was. Half the time my head was 
under water and it was very difficult to get 
breath. 

‘‘But I clung with desperation, as a drowning 
man always clings to any sort of support. The 
water was warm, so that I was in no danger of 
being chilled and benumbed, at least not for 
awhile. By and by the wind fell a little, then a lit- 
tle more, and then I tightened the rope under my 
arms and lifted myself further out of the water. A 
terrible thirst came upon me, but I managed to 
assuage it a little by catching in my mouth some 


CAUGHT IN A TYPHOON. 


149 


of the rain-drops as they fell. Then my strength 
began to fall; I felt like fainting, and well knew 
that if I became insensible I should certainly 
drown. 

“ As I was making a great effort to rouse myself 
I caught sight of a steamer coming through the 
mist almost directly toward me. The lookout 
forward saw the hencoop, then he made out that 
a man was fast to it ; then the steamer slacked her 
speed so as to bring me close alongside. It was 
still too rough for lowering a boat. A Malay sailor 
came down the rope like a cat, passed the bight of 
it around me, and then, after casting off the hen- 
coop, he scrambled back again and I was hauled 
on board. I fainted then, but that did no harm. I 
was on the steamer Danube, and her captain, 
Clanchy, took good care of me and landed me safe 
in Hong Kong. The schooner and all of the rest 
belonging to her were never heard from.” 




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CHASED BY WOLVES. 



NE of the sports of certain parts 
of Russia during the winter 
season is that of hunting 
wolves. The amusement is 
conducted in a variety of ways. 
Sometimes, when the party of 
hunters is a large one, a grand 
ba ttue is arranged, and a wide extent of territory ’ 
is surrounded. The circle may be miles in diam- 
eter, and require a day or two to form it; the 
territory enclosed is generally one where wolves 
are known to abound, and when the lines are shut, 
and the animals driven to the center, they fre- 
quently number a hundred or more. At a hunt in 
Lithuania, one of the western provinces of 
Russia, some years ago, nearly three hundred 
wolves were killed, and half as many escaped 
before the lines were closed. Near St. Petersburg 
wolves are more scarce, and sometimes the hunt- 
ers return without any trophies. A funny story is 
told of an imperial wolf-hunt during the reign of 
Nicholas. 


152 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


A German prince of considerable importance was 
visiting the court of the emperor, and received 
many attentions. He was .shown all the curi- 
osities of the capital and its surroundings, and as 
a climax, the emperor determined to treat him to 
a wolf-hunt. The guest had some reputation as 
a Nimrod, and consequently his host did not 
wish to disappoint him in finding game. The 
superintendent of the forest said there was a 
scarcity of wolves, and so his majesty ordered a 
dozen or more tame ones to be let loose. Of course 
the chase was successful, and the game was so 
driven that the prince was able to bring back a 
couple of wolf-skins on the return to the city. 

The emperor complimented the prince on his suc- 
cess, and the latter replied : 

“You have a strange race of wolves in Russia. 
One of those I killed to-day wore a collar, and the 
other had the hair rubbed from his neck as if by a 
chain.” 

All through Russia, from the Baltic to Behring’s 
sea, the wolf can be found. He is the ordinary 
gray wolf of Europe and America, and only 
dangerous when hunger has made him fierce. In 
Siberia he rarely attacks man, and during a sleigh 
ride of thirty-six hundred miles through Siberia 
and the eastern portion of European Russia I 
encountered but few of them. One afternoon just at 
sunset a group of them looked over a snowy ridge 
near the road, and set up a howl as if they pro- 


CHASED BY WOLVES. 


153 


posed pursuing us. We drove along as rapidly as 
we could, and I kept my eyes fixed on the ridge 
until the gray coats of those brutes were 
altogether lost to sight. While tossing that 
night through my first slumber, as the sleigh was 
steadily dashing to the westward, I dreamed of 
wolves, and awoke with a feeling of great relief at 
my escape from being eaten up to satisfy the hun- 
ger of a pack of a hundred or so of the most 
unpleasant beasts it was ever a man’s misfortune 
to encounter. 

Siberia is so thinly settled, and game is so abun- 
dant, that a wolf can make an honest living much 
easier than in Western Russia. Even in the worst 
winters he is rarely driven to the necessity of pursu- 
ing travelers to obtain a meal, as there is usually 
a sufficient quantity of deer, antelope, and the like 
to be had for the hunting. In the regions of the 
Altai mountains, and the level country beyond 
them, the wolves are numerous, and often seen 
hunting in packs or droves. A Russian officer who 
had traveled there, told me that he one day came 
across a pack of wolves that had surrounded a 
wild bull they had evidently been pursuing for 
some time. They had succeeded in hamstringing 
him, and he was certain to yield before long. My 
friend watched the wolves for nearly an hour, and 
saw that they regularly relieved each other in 
dangerous positions, and while some rested, the 
others continued to worry their prey. The bull 


154 


TttU TALKING HANDKERCHIEP. 


fought with desperation, though he seemed quite 
conscious of his impending fate. The gentleman 
shot two of the wolves, and drove away the rest ; 
he yien put the bull out of his misery, and as he 
mo.t^ed away he saw the pack returning to enjoy 
their expected feast. 

Wolf-hunts are most popular in the western 
provinces of Russia, where the population is more 
dense than in Siberia, and the wolves consequently 
grow more desperate in severe winters. The 
wolves pursue travelers only after severe and 
long-continued storms, that cover or drive away 
most of the game in the forests. The objects of 
their pursuit are the horses that draw the sleigh, 
rather than the persons within it, but when they 
have once overtaken a vehicle, they are not apt to 
make nice distinctions between horses and men. 
They generally make their attacks upon the 
horses first, and sometimes where a party has 
four or five horses, it cuts one loose from the team, 
and then kills him, so that while the wolves are 
feeding upon his carcass the chase will be delayed. 

I heard in Russia a story of a party near Yilna 
that was once pursued by wolves, and in great 
danger of capture. There was a young woman 
and her lover in the sleigh, and as the wolves came 
close upon them, the lover proposed to jump from 
the sleigh and sacrifice himself, in order that his 
affianced might escape. She refused his offer, and 
declared she would die with him. He finally sue- 


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“THE YOUNG MAN SPRANG AND WAS INSTANTLY TORN IN PIECES, 







CHASED BY WOLVES. 


157 


ceeded in extorting from her a promise that she 
would remain in the sleigh under the guidance of 
the driver, and endeavor, in case of her escape, to 
comfort his parents in their old age. As the wolves 
came nearer, and almost touched the sleigh, the 
young man sprang among them, and was 
instantly torn in pieces. The woman remained, in 
obedience to her promise, and with a mingled feel- 
ing of fright and grief cowered beneath the robes. 
But as the wolves again approached, she raised 
her head, and pronouncing the name of her lover, 
stood erect in the vehicle. The driver, busy with 
his horses, gave her no attention until she leaped 
among the pursuing beasts, and followed the fate 
of the man who claimed her affection as his own. 

The ordinary mode of hunting wolves in Russia 
is to go out with a sleigh drawn by three horses 
abreast, and make a circuit through the forest 
where the game is known to abound. Great care 
is taken to have the harness and everything else 
about the concern in good condition, so that no 
accident may occur at a critical moment. The 
team of three horses is called a troika, and the 
term is applied to the animals exclusive or inclu- 
sive of the sleigh, exactly as the word team is used 
in America. 

There are usually two hunters in the sleigh, 
while the driver is perched on the seat at the for- 
ward end, and has no duties beyond attending to 
his horses, and the hunters are armed with guns 


158 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


that admit of being loaded and fired rapidly, and 
for this purpose some of the new breaeh-loading 
weapons of the present day are found very service- 
able. An important, though an unwilling member 
of the hunting party is a pig. He is taken into 
the sleigh, and carefully wrapped in the furs and 
straw at the bottom while on the way to the 
happy hunting-ground, but when arrived there, 
his treatment becomes very unpleasant. A stout 
rope is tied to his leg, and attached to the after 
part of the sleigh. He is then thrown overboard, 
and, as the vehicle moves along, he is towed 
astern, very much as a patent log is made to fol- 
low a ship at sea. Of course he squeals, as any 
other pig would do under the circumstances, and 
his scream on the still night air can be heard a 
long distance. 

The wolf is no Moslem or Hebrew, so far as the 
matter of eating and drinking goes ; on the con- 
trary, he is very fond of pork, and never omits an 
opportunity to obtain it. As he hears the scream 
of the pig, he is sure to be aroused by it, and if 
hungry, as he generally is, he moves very 
prompt!}^ in its direction. If the winter is severe, 
and game scarce, the squealing of the pig is especi- 
ally attractive, and draws an audience as appre- 
ciative, though not as desirable, as any that ever 
gathered to listen to Patti or Nillson. When the 
wolves approach within easy shooting distance, 
the hunters make quick work with their guns, and 


CHASED BY WOLVES 


159 


generally succeed in bringing down quite a num- 
ber. Of course this kind of hunting is as precari- 
ous as any other, and very often the hunter 
returns empty-handed. A dozen wolves is con- 
sidered very fair shooting for a single night, and 
when the prizes amount to twenty or more, it is 
considered a good time for wolves. 

One day during my stay in Irkutsk I w^ent with 
a Russian officer of my acquaintance to look at 
the country, a few miles north of the town. As 
we were returning from our ride, I spoke of a very 
large wolf-skin that I saw at a peasant’s house 
where we .stopped a few moments* to take tea. 
My companion became less talkative than usual 
as soon as I mentioned the wolf-skin, and we 
finished our ride as if we were not on the best of 
terms. That evening, as we sat over our cigars, he 
referred to the subject of my afternoon’s remark, 
and then told me a story, which I will give, as 
nearly as possible, in his own words. 

“You see,” said he, “that though I am still 
young, my hair is gray as that of a man of sixty. 
It was not turned white in a 
single night, but it was turned 
by the events of a single night 
that I shall never forget. I 
never see a wolf, or hear one 
mentioned, without a very 
unpleasant feeling. When you 
spoke of that skin to-day you/ 



160 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


touched the old wound, and it was for that rea- 
son that I was so moody and little inclined to 
talk on our way home. 

“ Five years ago this winter I was in St. Peters- 
burg, where I had just received my commission in 
one of the regiments attached to the immediate 
service of the emperor. There was little to do, 
and I passed much time in the societ^^ of the gay 
capital. In the course of the winter I met a most 
charming young lady, the sister of one of my fel- 
low-officers, and in a few weeks we became greatly 
attached to each other. Our intimacy terminated 
in an engagement, and when she left, under the 
escort of her brother, to spend a few weeks at the 
family home in Posen, I obtained leave of absence, 
and accompanied her. 

“Of course time passed pleasantly enough for us 
lovers, though it hung rather heavily upon the 
hands of her brother, who had no one to love, and 
considered a great deal of our talk the veriest 
nonsense in the world, as it probably was. We 
got up little journeys to various places in the 
vicinity, and had several hunting excursions, with- 
out any special good fortune. Finally my friend 
Rasloff proposed a wolf-hunt, and though I would 
have preferred to remain at the chateau in the 
company of Christina, I consented, and we made 
our preparations. 

“We prepared a troika and selected the best 
horses from RaslofiPs stable ; fine, quick, sure-footed 


CHASED BY WOLVES. 


161 


beasts, and with a driver who 
was unsurpassed in all that 
region for his skill and dash. 

The sleigh was a large one, 
and we fitted it with a 
good supply of robes and 
stra w, and put a healthv 

’ ^ “the driver.” 

young pig in it to serve as a decoy. We each had 
a gun, and carried a couple of spare guns with 
plenty of ammunition, so that we could kill as 
many wolves as presented themselves. 

“Just as we were preparing to start, and the 
horses were prancing at the door, Christina 
asked to accompany us. We did not antici- 
pate any danger, but somehow we felt a reluc- 
tance to expose her to whatever risk there was 
in the expedition. I suggested the coldness of the 
night, and Rasloff hinted that the sleigh was too 
small for three. But Christina protested that the 
air, though sharp, was clear and still, and she 
could wrap herself warmly ; a ride of a few hours 
would do her more good than harm. The sleigh, 
she insisted, was a large one, and afforded ample 
room. ‘Besides,’ she added, ‘I will sit directly 
behind the driver, and out of your way, and I 
want to see a wolf hunt very much indeed.’ 

“So we consented. Christina arrayed herself in 
a few moments, and we started on our excursion. 

“The servants were instructed to hang out a 
11 



162 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


light in front of the entrance to the courtyard. It 
was about sunset when we left the chateau and 
drove out tipon the plain, covered here and there 
with patches of forest. The road we followed was 
well trodden by the many peasants on their way 
to the fair at the town, some twenty-five miles 
away. We met several parties of these peasants 
jogging merrily along, some of them rather too 
merry from deep potations of the native vodka. 
We traveled slowly, not wishing to tire our horses, 
and, as we left the half dozen villages that clus- 
tered around the chateau within a few miles of it, 
we had the road entirely to ourselves. The moon 
rose soon after sunset, and as it was at the full, it 
lighted up the plain very clearly, and seemed to 
stand out quite distinct from the deep blue sky 
and the bright stars that sparkled everywhere 
above the horizon. 

“We chatted gaily as we rode along. Somehow 
I found it convenient to sit very close to Chris- 
tina’s side, and it was not strange that it became 
necessary to throw my arm around her waist to 
support her. The time passed so rapidly that I 
was half surprised when Rasloff told me to cease 
love-making and get ready to hunt wolves. Chris- 
tina thought we had better wait a little longer, 
but her brother was inflexible, and so we halted 
and made our preparations. 

• ‘ The pig had been lying very comfortably in the 


CHASED BY WOLVES. 


163 


bottom of the sleigh, and protested quite loudly 
as we brought him out. The rope had been made 
ready before we started from home, and so the 
most we had to do was to turn the horses around, 



the ground. 


He set up a piercing shriek as the rope dragged 
him along, and completely drowned our voices. 
Paul had hard work to keep the horses from 
breaking into a run, but he succeeded, and we 
maintained a very slow trot. Christina nestled 
in the place she had agreed to occupy, and Rasloff 
and I prepared to shoot the wolves. 

“We drove thus for fifteen or twenty minutes. 
The pig gradually became exhausted, and reduced 
his scream to a sort of moan that was very pain- 
ful to hear. I began to think we should see no 
wolves, and return to the chateau without firing 
our guns, when suddenly a howl came faintly 
along the air, and in a moment, another and 
another. 

“ ‘There,’ said Rasloff; ‘there comes our game, 
and we shall have work enough before long. ’ 

“A few moments later I saw a half do^en dusky 


164 


THE TALKING HANDKEKCHIEF. 


forms emerging from the forest to the right and 
behind us. They seemed like moving spots on the 
snow, and had it not been for their howling I 
should have failed to notice them as early as I did. 
They grew more and more numerous, and, as they 
gathered behind us, formed a waving line across 
the road that gradually took the shape of a cres- 
cent, with the horns pointing toward our right 
and left. At first they were timid, and kept a 
hundred yards or more behind us, but as the hog 
renewed his scream, they took courage, and 
approached nearer. 

“ By the time they were within fifty yards there 
were two or three hundred of them — possibl}^ half 
a thousand. I could see every moment that their 
numbers were increasing, and it was somewhat 
impatiently that I waited RaslofPs signal to fire. 
At last he told me to begin, and I fired at the 
center of the pack. The wolf I struck gave a howl 
of pain, and his companions, roused by the smell 
of blood, fell upon and tore him to pieces in a 
moment. Rasloff' fired an instant after me, and 
then we kept up our firing as fast as possible. As 
the wolves fell, the others sprang upon them, but 
the pack was so large that they were not materi- 
ally detained by stopping to eat up their brethren. 
They continued the pursuit, and what alarmed 
me, they came nearer, and showed very little fear 
of our guns, 


CHASED BY WOLYES. 


165 


“We had taken a large quantity of ammunition 
— more by half than we thought would possibly 
be needed — but its quantity diminished so rapidly 
as to suggest the probability of exhaustion. The 
paek steadily came nearer. We cut away the pig, 
but it stopped the pursuit only for a moment. 
Directly behind us the wolves were not ten yards 
away ; on each side they were no further from the 
horses, who were snorting with fear, and requir- 
ing all the efforts of the driver to hold them. We 
shot down the beasts as fast as possible, and as 
I saw our danger I whispered my thoughts to 
Rasloff. 

“He replied to me in Spanish, which Christina 
did not understand, that the situation was really 
dangerous, and we must prepare to get out of it. 
H would stay longer,’ he suggested, ‘though there 
is a good deal of risk in it, but we must think of 
the girl, and not let her suspect anything wrong, 
and, above all, must not risk her safety.’ 

“Turning to the driver, he said, in a cheery 
tone : 

“ ‘ Paul, we have shot till we are tired out. You 
may let the horses go, but keep them well in con- 
trol.’ 

“Even while he spoke a huge wolf sprang from 
the pack and dashed toward one of the horses. 
Another followed him, and in twenty seconds the 
line was broken and they were upon us. One 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEE. 


166 


jumped at the rear of the sleigh 
caught his paws upon it. Rasloft' 
him with the butt of his gun, 
the same instant he delivered 
Paid let the horses have 
way. Rasloff fell upon 
of the vehicle and over 
Luckily, his foot caught 
of the robes 
and held 
him for 
an in- 


stant 
—long 
enough to 
enable me 
seize and 
him back, 
a moment ! 

“ Christina had remained silent, suspecting, but 
not fully comprehending our danger. As her 
brother fell she gave one piercing scream and 
dropped senseless to the bottom of the sleigh. I 
confess that I exerted all my strength in that 
effort to save the brother of my affianced, and as 
I accomplished it, I sank powerless, though still 
conscious, at the side of the girl I loved. Rasloff’s 
right arm was dislocated by the fall, and one of 



to 

draw 

It was the work a moment, but what 


ONE WOLF JUMPED AT THE SLEIGH.” 


CHASED BY WOLVES. 


167 


the pursuing wolves had struck his teeth into his 
scalp as he was dragging over the side, and torn 
it so that it bled profusely. How narrow had 
been his escape ! 

“‘Faster, faster, Paul!’ he shouted; ‘drive for 
your life and for ours.’ 

“Paul gave the horses free rein, and they needed 
no urging. The^^ dashed along the road as horses 
rareh" ever dashed before. In a few minutes I 
gained strength enough to raise my head, and 
saw, to m3' unspeakable delight, that the distance 
between us and the pack was increasing. We 
were safe if no accident occurred and the horses 
could maintain their pace. 

“One horse fell, but, as if knowing his danger, 
made a tremendous effort and gained his feet. By 
and by we saw the light at the chateau, and in a 
moment dashed into the courtyard, and were safe. 

“We carried Christina to the house, but it was 
several hours before she recovered her conscious- 
ness. A peasant told us that the road we followed 
was strewn with the wolves we had killed, but 
we did not care to visit the scene of our terrible 
danger. Rasloff soon recovered from his injuries, 
but his hair, like mine, turned white from the date 
of that fearful ride. Christina and I were married 
a few months later, but none of us ever refer, 
except by accident, to the wolf-hunt in Posen.’’ 



BETRAYED BY A MIRAGE 



N the early part of the present een- 
tury, Mohammed AH Pasha, the 
ruler of Egypt, sent an army to 
eonquer Nubia. It was neeessary 
for this army to mareh aeross a 
part of the desert whieh is inelosed 
in a wide bend of the Nile between 
Korosko and Abu Hamed, a distanee, as the road 
runs, of about two hundred and forty miles. 
There is only a single plaee in all this distanee 
where wells or springs ean be found. Troops and 
all other travelers must earry a supply of water, 
and use great preeautions to prevent its waste; 
and even with all the eare they jcan exereise there 
is frequently great suffering. The road ean be 
traeed by the skeletons of men and animals that 
have died of thirst or from the exeessive heat that 
prevails in this loeality at all seasons of the year, 
and in one plaee a few miles away from the direet 
route the great number of skeletons tells a fearful 
story. 


170 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


One of the regiments of Mohammed Ali had not 
taken proper preeautions in regard to its supply 
of water, and the offieers discovered, to their dis- 
may, that while they were yet a long distance 
from their destination on the banks of the Nile the 
precious fluid was wholly exhausted. Men and 
animals were suffering severely, but it was hoped 
that by a forced march, continuing through the 
entire uight and part of the next day, they might 
reach Abu Hamed, where everybody could drink 
to his satisfaction in the great river which gives 
life to Egypt. 

As the men were dragging themselves slowly 
along, there appeared, away to the east and at a 
right angle to the road, the shining waters of a 
lake. Those who first saw it cried out : ''Moya ! 
Moya!’^ (Water! Water!), and the cry was 
quickly carried along the line. The weary were 
encouraged, the pace of all was quickened and the 
head of the column turned in the direction where 
the lake spread its inviting surface. In vain did 
the officers try to stop the men by ordering them 
to continue their route, and telling them there was 
no lake at all but only a deception. Maddened 
with thirst, the soldiers broke through all dis- 
cipline, threw down their arms, and each for him- 
self sought to reach the welcome water as soon as 
possible. All control was lost, and even some of 
the officers joined in the mad flight. 


BETRAYED BY A MIRAGE. 


171 


As they went on the lake seemed to withdraw 
further and further away, and at length it disap- 
peared altogether and the men fell to the ground 
exhausted and in despair. The lake was a cruel 
deception of nature, and in its stead they found 
only the stony and sandy desert, with not a trace 
of the water they so much needed for the pres- 
ervation of their lives. Only a few of the soldiers 
had sufficient strength to return to the route and 
continue the march to Abu Hamed. All the others 
died where they fell, and their skeletons, where not 
covered by the drifting sands, are still whitening 
the desert and telling the story of the work of the 
mirage. 

The mirage on the deserts of Egypt was first 
made known to the western world by Professor 
Monge, who accompanied Napoleon’s expedition 
to that country. On several occasions the sol- 
diers at the head of the marching column were 
deceived by the appearance of water directly along 
the road where they expected to march, and once 
the column was halted and ordered to form in line 
for battle as a strong force of the enemy was seen 
approaching with every appearance of an inten- 
tion to oppose the further advance of the French. 
As the French troops formed in line it was seen 
that the others did the same ; as the cavalry dis- 
mounted so did the cavalry of the enemy ; as the 
cannon were wheeled into position the Arabs 
brought forward an equal number of guns. One 


17^ 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


of the officers proceeded to examine the enemy with 
a telescope, and to his great surprise found that 
they were in French uniforms and imitated every 
movement of the Napoleonic forces with the most 
complete exactness. 

An Arab guide was at the officer’s side, preserv- 
ing the grave silence for which the Arabs are noted. 
When his opinion was asked, he briefly said that 
the opposing army was all in the air and nothing 
more than a mirage. “If you advance,” said he, 
“it will retreat, and in a little while will fly away 
out of sight.” 

The order to advance was given. Sure enough, 
the imaginary army fell back, and soon vanished 
altogether. It was one of the tricks of the mi- 
rage, which had created the image of the French 
army just as the mirror reflects our faces as we 
stand before it. 

Deceptions of this sort are less frequent than 
those of the ordinary mirage which creates lakes, 
rivers and forests were none exist, or raises into 
full view objects that are really far below the hori- 
zon. The scientific explanation, of the mirage is 
based on the var^dng densities of different strata 
of air, owing to the effect of the sun’s rays, which 
produces an unusual refraction. Every boy knOws 
that the brook or river is deeper than it seems to 
be to the eye, and that a stick or oar thrust into the 
water on a bright day seems to be shortened and 
also bent at the point where it enters. This 


BETRAYED BY A MIRAGE. 


173 


appearance comes from refraction, and it is the 
same cause that gives us the mirage. 

While the mirage often causes disaster or disap- 
pointment, it is quite as often a matter of advan- 
tage. In the arctic regions, it is no uncommon 
thing for a whale-ship to learn the position of 
another, that is really far beyond the horizon, by 



image is usually inverted, but sometimes a double 


174 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


image is seen, one of the figures being upright and 
the other inverted. In Captain Scoresby’s arctie 
expedition his two ships became separated, but 
the captain subsequently ascertained the position 
of the other ship by seeing it reflected in the sky, 
when it was actually seventeen miles beyond the 
line of the horizon. 

It is said that a French fleet was once preparing 
for a descent on the English coast during one of 
the wars that prevailed between France and Eng- 
land. The preparations had been made with 
great secrecy, and the hostile fleet was to assem- 
ble at a point fifty miles from the shore selected 
for the attack. When all was ready, and it took 
several days to assemble the hostile ships, the 
advance was made with the expectation of taking 
the English by surprise. But the surprise was on 
the other side, as the mirage had revealed the dis- 
tant fleet on the day when it began to meet ; every 
ship was shown inverted in the air for more than 
three hours, and the movements were such that 
the English offices readily understood that a ren- 
dezvous had been ordered at that point. Men for 
the defense were gathered as rapidly as posvsible, 
the forts were manned and pu^t in readiness, and 
when the French fleet came sailing in, it met with 
a reception as warm as it was unexpected. 

I once heard the officer of an American ship-of 
war tell the following story of how his vessel cap- 


BETRAYED BY A MIRAGE. 


175 


tured a slave ship on the coast of Africa, through 
the aid of the mirage : 

“We were cruising along the' coast on the hunt 
for slavers, and had not seen anything for some 
time. The weather was frightfully hot, and many 
of the men were ill in consequence, so that the com- 
mander decided to put into Sierra Leone for awhile 
to give us a respite from full duty, and let us have 
a run on shore from time to time. We squared 
away in the direction of that port, and everybody 
breathed freer at the prospect of a rest. We were 
under sail, our engines being stopped and the fires 
put out, except when a slave-ship was in sight; 
the orders were that we should save coal wherever 
possible, and in obedience to the orders, coal was 
never burned except where the necessity for it was 
imperative. 

“About noon of the second day after we headed 
for Sierra Leone, the lookout reported a sail. An 
officer went to the cross-trees immediately with 
the most powerful telescope on the ship, and made 
her out a slaver stealing away from the coast. 
She was headed directly for the open Atlantic, and 
had all the appearance of a slave-ship with a 
cargo of human beings for the Cuban or Brazilian 
market. 

“We laid our course so as to head her off and 
got up steam as soon as we could. But a stern 
chase is a long chase. She sailed well, and with 
all our efforts she was six or eight miles away 


176 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


when night fell and hid her from our sight. How 
we wished and wished for a few hours more of 
daylight ! You may be sure that our wishes were 
exactly the reverse of all the crew of that slave 
ship, as capture meant death to them, with the 
exception of those who could clearly prove that 
they had been unwillingly forced into the nefarious 
business. Night was a shield for the slaver, as it 
enabled her to change her course wherever she 
wished as long as the wind favored her; in the 
morning she might be out of sight, and we could 
only guess in what direction she lay. 

“ We banked the fires and went along under easy 
sail, just enough to give steerage way and no 
more. Toward morning the wind died out, so 
that we slowed down to a knot an hour. Every- 
body was out of temper, as we felt that we had 
lost the chance of taking a prize into port and 
quite likely of releasing several hundred negroes 
from captivity. 

“I was sent aloft to watch from the cross-trees 
in the forlorn hope of catching a sight of the 
slaver. As the day broke, I swept the horizon in 
every direction, and after satisfying myself that 
the man-stealer had quite eluded us, I went below 
and reported to the officer of the day. Then I 
returned to my post and again and again scanned 
the curving rim of the ocean, with always the 
same result. In the east was the low, thin haze 
that marked the coast of Africa, but there was not 


BETRAYED BY A MIRAGE. 


177 


a speck of a sail between me and the haze, while 



north, south and west nothing could be seen save 
sea and sky. 

“A young midshipman had gone aloft with me, 
and there we remained during the whole of the 
morning-watch, hoping against hope to find out 
where to go to catch the slaver. I ofi'ered him a 
gold moidore if he would discover her, but he did 
not need any financial stimulus, as he was quite 

as eager as all the rest to locate the prize. 

12 


178 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


^‘Of course, our observation was naturally 
ahead of us, rather than in the other direction, 
but we did not leave any quarter of the horizon 
without careful examination. Neither of us 
thought to turn his gaze to the sky, and it was 
only by accident that the midshipman cast his 
eyes in that direction — almost over our stern. 
Suddenly he gave an exclamation that attracted 
my attention, and then said : 

‘“I’ll have that gold moidore, Mr. , before 

the day is out.’ 

“‘I hope you will,’ I answered, ‘but just now 
there’s no chance for it.’ 

‘“Excuse me, sir, but I think there is,’ he 
answered. 

“And then he pointed to the sky over our stern, 
about twenty degrees above the horizon. 

“There was the slaver, hull, sails and all, 
inverted in the air, and so clearly defined that 
there was no mistaking her. I swept the horizon 
just below her and not a sign of her could be seen. 
The tell-tale mirage had revealed her when her 
captain and crew were probably laughing at hav- 
ing outwitted the Yankee ship-of-war. 

“I sent the middy below to report, and a proud 
fellow he was, you may believe. The fires were 
started in short order, full steam was made, and 
away we went for Mr. Slaver at our best speed. 
The wind died out altogether and left her helpless ; 
we sighted her inside of two hours, and in five 


BETRAYED BY A MIRAGE. 


179 


hours from the time we saw her image in the sky 
she was in our possession. The captain thought 
he bad outwitted us completely by steering back 
during the night along the course we had come; 
when he first caught sight of us he rightly sur- 
mised that we were bound for Sierra Leone and 
nothing would be more natural than for us to 
continue on our course after losing sight of the 
slaver. 

“We continued on to Sierra Leone, but not in 
the manner he had expected. Instead of being 
alone we had company — that of the slaver with a 
prize crew on board. Her own crew were ironed 
and secured on board our ship, and in due course 
of time they met the fate they deserved. There 
were three hundred slaves on board, and these 
were set at liberty as soon as the port was 
reached. Some of them found relatives and friends 
among those who had preceded them; Sierra 
Leone had received a good many cargoes of liber- 
ated slaves and continued to do so until the slave 
trade on the west coast of Africa was altogether 
suppressed.”— [Ac w York ledger 








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TO THE GREAT WALLOP CHINA. 



visit Pekin without making a 
journey to the great wall of China 
would be like spending a week in 
New York without getting a 
glimpse of Central park. We are 
in the imperial city, and conse- 
quently the great wall must be seen. How do we 
go to it ? 

The route is along a very ancient and very dilap- 
idated road, like most roads in the Celestial 
empire, and the distance is about one hundred 
miles. We make a bargain with a Chinese con- 
tractor, who is as great a rascal as one could wish 
to encounter in business anywhere ; it would be 
interesting to match him against some American 
and English horse owners and dealers that we 
know of, and the bets as to who would come out 
ahead ought to be about even. We stipulate that 
he is to take us to the real great wall at Chan- 
Kia-Kow, and not to the spurious one thirty miles 
from the imperial city; unless this stipulation is 
made he will take us only to the smaller wall, and 


182 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


then declare by all the saints in the Chinese calen- 
dar that he has discharged his duty and can go no 
farther. We are to go on horseback, and as there 
are no hotels on the way where we can get any- 
thing suited to American palates, we carry our 
provisions on the backs of baggage mules ; we 
also make a careful stipulation, through the advice 
of an experienced friend, that if any of the horses 
or mules become lame or ill on the road we are to 
be supplied with serviceable animals without 
extra charge. This is a necessary stipulation, as 
without it we are liable to enterprising extortion 
on the part of our contractor ; our saddle horses 
would go lame most unaccountably, probably 
through maiming by the contractor himself, and 
then we would be forced to pay ver^^ high prices 
for substitutes. We also take a mule litter as a 
precaution, in case any of us are disabled by acci- 
dent and unable to ride in the saddle. The mule 
litter is a sort of a sedan chair, or bed, resting on 
long poles that are placed parallel to each other 
and just far enough apart for a single mule to be 
harnessed between them. One mule is between the 
shafts in front of the litter, and the other behind 
it, and as the poles are quite springy, the motion 
of the litter is not at all disagreeable. The disad- 
vantages of this vehicle are found in the tendency 
of the fastenings over the backs of the mules to 
work themselves loose; in such an event down 
come the ends of the poles with a force sufficient 


Tilt: great wall op China. 


183 


to wake one from the soundest nap, and some- 
times to inspire the unreleased mule into the effort 
to run away. If he is behind the litter he cannot 
do much in the running line, but in front of it an 
enterprising beast has a fair chance for making a 
general smash up. 

Our saddle animals are Mongolian ponies, with 
a good deal of horse cussedness in their composb 
tion. They are sturdy brutes, capable of much 
hard work, and with so much endurance that my 
pony thinks nothing of running away with me 
for a mile or more at the end of a hard day’s 
journey. The rascal had tried it on repeatedly, 
but I always had him so well in hand that he 
couldn’t carry out his plans. Just as I was dis- 
mounting I incautiously let go his bridle for an 
instant, and then away he went. He had me at a 
disadvantage, as my left foot was out of the stir- 
rup and the bridle was on his neck ; but by dint of 
hanging on to the best of my abilities while mak- 
ing efforts to catch the bridle I at last became 
master of the situation, and brought the brute to 
terms. Our contractor said the pony bore the 
honored name of Chan-Fin-Dee (the ten thousand 
virtues), but an English gentleman who rode him 
a few weeks before our visit had rechristened him 
“ Dam-iz-ize.” The latter cognomen seemed so 
much more appropriate than the former that in 
spite of protests on my part my companion would 
know the pony by no other than his English name. 


184 


THl? 'i'aLkInC handkerchief. 


It is a noticeable circumstance that these ponies 
are much more vicious with Europeans than with 
Chinese or Mongols; they hate the intruding 
foreigner and will miss no fair chance to show 
him their spite. It is so with all domestic animals 



in China; the dogs bark at us and have no hesita- 
tion at biting ; the cats spit, enlarge their tails and 
run away when we come in sight; the chickens 
and ducks take to shelter ; the oxen and buffaloes 
run at us with their horns in warlike position, and 
the horses kick and bite us, and throw us from 
their backs if they can. The hatred of the people 
for the outside barbarian is reflected by their 
quadruped friends to a degree that is almost sur- 


THE GREAT WALL OE CHINA. 


185 


prising. One would imagine that the horses, dogs, 
cats and other Chinese beasts were able to read 
the newspapers and had became fully cognizant of 
the savage treatment that the Chinaman often 
receives at the hands of enlightened citizens of the 
United States. 

Our start from the courtyard of the little hotel 
in Pekin where we are lodged takes fully an hour 
after our cavalcade is pronounced ready, as there 
is a great deal of adjustment of saddle girths and 
stirrup leathers before everybody is suited, and 
also a liberal amount of “circusing” on the part 
of the ponies as we take our seats. We file out of 
Pekin through the north gate and find ourselves 
in a flat country. The road is deep with dust, 
which rises in clouds around us till we think a 
dusty road is about the worst thing in the world*. 
When we come back a week later it has been rain- 
ing heavily and the mud is knee deep for our 
horses and a good “ankle over” for us. We are 
obliged to dismount two or three times in the 
mud, and then we conclude that the dust should 
not have been so greatly despised. The road is 
lined on each side with gardens and fields, but 
there are many places where the soil is so thin 
that the land cannot be tilled to advantage. We 
are jostled by pack horses and mules laden heavily 
with vegetables and fresh provisions for the mar- 
kets of the great city, and there are many persons 
on foot who are burdened in the same way. Man 


186 


THE TALKING HANDKEECHIEP. 


is a good deal of a pack animal in China, and he 
bears without a murmur the heavy load that is 
placed on his shoulders. The lot of the Chinese 
laborer is a hard one, and the wonder is not that 
so many emigrate but so few. There is practically no 
emigration from North China to other countries. 
Ninety-nine hundredths of the Chinese in America, 
Australia and the British colonies in general have 
come from two provinces of Southern China, and 
by far the greater part of them are from the single 
province of Quang-Tung. 

We had made such a late start that it was 
nearly sunset when we reached the village of 
Sha-Ho, about twenty miles from Pekin, and by 
the advice of our contractor we stopped there for 
the night, lodging in a Chinese inn, where we slept 
6n straw and supped on the food that we brought 
with us. Our beds were so poor and the fleas so 
friendly that we were up very early in the morning 
and made a fine start. There is little to see at 
Sha-Ho beyond a couple of fine old bridges of 
stone that were built centuries ago, and promise 
to last for centuries to come. From Sha-Ho the 
country became rougher ; our northern horizon was 
filled with jagged hills that finally rose to the 
dignity of mountains, which presented a barrier 
of threatened impassibility. Noon brought us to 
the village of Nankow, at the entrance of the Nan- 
kow Pass, where we stopped for dinner with 
appetites that a crocodile might envy. The 


THE GREAT WALL OE CHINA. 


187 


ponies had so shaken us that our digestions 
would have been able to assimilate a leather boot 
without much difficulty, and besides the air of this 



region is bracing, like mountain air in nearly 
every part of the world. A kettle of mutton was 
boiling over a fire in the wretched inn where we 
halted, and we concluded to supplement our canned 
provisions with boiled mutton without caper 
sauce, capers being unknown in this locality. 
Boiled mutton is a staple dish in this part of 
China and all through Mongolia. Sheep are 
abundant and cheap, and they may be had almost 
at the purchaser’s own price; the kettle is kept 
going from early morning till late at night, and as 
fast as the meat or soup is taken out the kettle is 


188 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


filled again. Sometimes millet is boiled with the 
meat ; and a stew of mutton and millet is not to 
be despised when one’s appetite is on edge. 

The Nankow Pass is thirteen miles long, and the 
road through it is decidedly rough. The moun- 
tains rise steeply on either hand, and here and 
there the route is overlooked by forts that were 
built centuries ago to protect the Chinese from 
Tartar incursions. Some of them are older than 
the great wall itself, and, in addition to the forts, 
there are towers where signal fires were lighted to 
give warning of an approaching invasion. The 
tradition goes that the forts and then the empire 
were lost in consequence of one of the feminine 
favorites of the emperor. Signal fires on the towers 
were to indicate the approach of the invaders, and 
when the signals were sent the army would 
hasten to the defense of Pekin. One day the 
emperor’s favorite persuaded him to give the 
signal, and it brought the armies to the defense of 
the imperial city. When the generals found that 
they had been called simply at the caprice of a 
woman they went home disgusted; by and hy^ 
when the Tartars really approached, they did not 
respond to the signal, and so the great city fell 
into the hands of the invaders. It is another 
version of the old story of “The Boy and the 
Wolf’’ of our school-boy days. The weak point 
about it is that a Chinese emperor, or any other 
Chinaman, is not likely to do anything to please a 


THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA. 


189 


woman. Chinese respect for woman is conspicu- 
ous by its absence, except toward one’s mother, 
who is especially revered by men of all classes. 

One of our party had an ugly fall in the Nankow 
Pass, and was so badly shaken up that for the rest 
of the day he occupied the mule litter. The ponies 
stumbled so many times that it was lucky we got 
through without any broken bones. The lack of 
enterprise on the part of the Chinese is well illus- 
trated by the bad condition of the route through 
the pass, which has been in use for many centuries 
and is practically the only road from Pekin to the 
plains of Mongolia. A few thousand dollars 
expended in engineering work would convert it 
into a mountain route of respectable character. 
Chinese vehicles are the same as they were two 
thousand years ago, and the conclusion is inevi- 
table that the people who willingly travel for days 
in carts that are torture for a European even 
in a single hour’s occupation, must be lacking in 
nerves or sensibility. The Chinese cart is too 
short to lie down in and too low for sitting 
upright, and its opportunities for vision along the 
route are almost nothing. The vehicle might be 
improved at slight expense, but no one, at least no 
one of Chinese origin, cares to improve it. 

Between the Nankow Pass and the great wall 
we passed a night at a village similar to Sha-Ho, 
and on leaving it in the morning we met a long 
string of carts laden with logs about six feet long, 


190 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. ' 


and intended to be made into co'ffins for the 
natives of Pekin. These logs are cut in Mongolia, 
six hundred miles from the great wall, and con- 
sequently must be carried about seven hundred 
miles to find a market. The scarcity of wood in 
the densely populated empire, and, therefore, the 
high price of lumber, together with the necessity of 
coffins for those who die, render this long trans- 
portation remunerative. Some of the men in 
charge of this wood train are inclined to inso- 
lence ; they make remarks about us that are evi- 
dently the reverse of complimentary, to judge by 
the laughter that follows them, and the increasing 
rudeness which threatened at one time to lead to 
a fight. It was fortunate that we did not under- 
stand Chinese, or we might have been provoked 
into a disturbance which was the very thing that 
would have made excuse for thoroughly thrash- 
ing, and perhaps killing us. Our guide told them 
we were English lamas or priests, and the object 
of our mission was to investigate certain disputed 
points about the holy places of Mongolia. This 
well-constructed falsehood had the effect of quieting 
the oriental hoodlums, but peace was onl}^ assured 
by our getting out of the way. European trav- 
elers in this part of China are almost invariably 
hooted at; not infrequently they are stoned and 
otherwise treated nearly as badly as are the 
Chinese in San Francisco and other A.merican 
cities. It is proper to say that some of our 


THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA. 


191 


insulters had partaken freely of sam-shoo, the 
Chinese equivalent for whisky ; it is made from 
rice, and when new is fiery enough to suggest as 
one drinks it that he has swallowed a torchlight 
procession or a whole Fourth of July. Like 
whisky, it is cheering and inebriating at the same 
time. It is taken cold by the ordinary native, but 
the fashionable way is to drink it hot from cups 
about the size of a lady’s thimble. A kettle is 
placed at the side of the drinker and he pours out 
as many cups as he likes until his hand becomes 
unsteady and pouring is no longer possible. 

Here we are at the great wall, dismounting in 
the town of Chan-Kia-Kow — the Russians call it 
Kalgan— in a valley so closely inclosed by the 
mountains that the sun does not shine on the 
houses until pretty late in the forenoon. A Rus- 
sian consul lives here, and the place has consider- 
able trade with Russia. The population is a 
mixed one; it consists mainly of Chinese and 
Mongols, to which must be added a fair number 
of Russians, together with people from all parts of 
Northern and Eastern Asia, though not in great 
numbers. We are hospitably entertained by the 
Russian consul, who took especial pains to be 
civil to us as soon as he learned that we were 
Americans. The great wall straggles over the 
hills and forms the northern boundary of the 
town ; a portion of it is kept in good repair, and 
one of the gates is closed every night and openei} 


192 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


in the morning, according to the custom which 
has prevailed for twenty centuries. We went to 
the north side of the wall, and were late in return- 



ing to town, so late, in fact, that the gate was 
closed, and it required both arguments and bribes 
to have it opened to let us through into the town. 

The great wall has been so often described that 
it needs only a passing word. It was built two 
thousand years ago to keep the Tartars out of 
China; it runs westward twelve hundred miles 
from the Gulf of Pe-Che-Lee to what was then the 
western frontier of the empire. Originally it was 
twenty-five feet wide at bottom, fifteen at top and 
thirty feet high, though these figures were not 
everywhere maintained. It was of earth, faced 
with stone or brick, and covered on the top with 
tiles; at intervals of about one hundred yards 


THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA. 


193 


there were towers about fifty feet high, intended 
for watchmen and soldiers ; the wall follows the 
irregularities of the country, over hills and 
through valleys, crossing rivers by magnificent 
archways, and running straight as a sunbeam on 
the level plain. It is now sadly out of repair, was 
never any use as a defense, but must be set down 
as one of the wonders of the world. 



A CORROBOREE IN AUSTRALIA. 



^HEN Australia was discovered, * 


there was a consid- 
erable population of 
natives scattered 


\ along the coast and 
through the inte- 


^rior; their numbers 
were variously esti- 


V ' mated, but whatever 


they may have been they were far in excess of the 
aboriginal population of the country at the present 
day. Like aboriginal people everywhere, they 
have suffered greatly by contact with civilization, 
especially by the use of ardent spirits, of which 
they are very fond. At present there are not 
more than forty thousand of them altogether. In 
the days of Captain Cook they were doubtless 
more than a hundred thousand, and possibly 
double that figure. Their numbers are diminishing 
yearly, and in course of no very long time they 
will follow the fate of the aboriginals of Tasmania, 


195 


196 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


and disappear altogether from the face of the 
earth. 

These people are black, though not so much 
so as the negro, and their hair is curly, but 
not crisp and woolly. Among the Australians 
they are always mentioned as “blacks” or “abo- 
riginals,” but never as “natives.” A “native” 
Australian is a white person born in the country, 
of parents who are either “natives” or emi- 
grants from other parts of the world. The colo- 
nial governments have tried to civilize the blacks, 
but have not been very successful in the work. 
Some of the blacks have been employed as shep- 
herds and in other work for white men, but their 
love for strong drink is so great that nearly all 
who associate with white men become drunkards, 
and spend their money for rum as fast as they 
earn anything. At one time the government of 
New South Wales had a police force of blacks com- 
manded by white officers. They were very useful 
in following thieves and others whom the authori- 
ties wished to capture, as they can discover and 
follow a trail when it is quite invisible to a white 
man. 

One of their religious beliefs is that a white man 
is the reanimated soul of a black man. When one 
of them dies, he is buried on the spot where the 
breath left his body, and the place is never after- 
ward visited by any of them. The name of the 
dead man is never mentioned, and anybody who 


A CORROBOREE IN AUSTRALIA. 


197 


bears a similar name must ehange it to something 
else. Their belief in regard to the spirit of a blaek 
man going into the body of a white one onee saved 
the life of a runaway eonviet, and made him ehief 
of a tribe. Here is his story, which is literall}^ 
true: 

When the convict settlements were established in 
Australia, the natives were friendly for a time, but 
after awhile quarrels arose, and the blacks began 
killing every white man who went among them, 
with here and there an exception. In spite of this 
danger, convicts used to run away to the interior, 
and take their chances, rather than submit to the 
cruelty of their masters. Most of them were 
never heard of after they disappeared in the bush. 

One of these runaways had wandered for days 
without food, and was about ready to lie down 
and die, when he came to a newly made mound, 
on which a few pieces of meat had been scattered. 
He eagerly seized the morsels and devoured them, 
thus gaining new strength to enable him to con- 
tinue his journey. A staff like a long walking- 
cane was sticking in the mound, and this he took 
as a support while walking. Seeing a path like a 
a trail leading into the forest, he followed it, in 
the hope that it might take him to the hut where 
possibly one of his fellow-runaways lived. 

After walking a few miles he came suddenly 
upon an encampment of blacks; he would have 
retreated and concealed himself, as he knew the 


198 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


murderous instincts of these people, but it was 
too late for him to do so, as they had already dis- 
eovered him, and were rushing forward with their 
spears and other weapons. 

The foremost of the men raised their weapons to 
strike him down, and he thought his last hour 





had eome. Suddenly they lowered their spears, 
consulted with each other, and then came forward 
and received him with the greatest respect. What 
could it all mean ? 

He made signs that he was hungry, and they 
immediately supplied him with food. They pre- 


A CORROBOREE IN AUSTRALIA. 


199 


pared a shelter for him, tended him with the 
greatest eare, and in a few days he was .as well 
and strong as ever. He was treated as their 
chief, and remained with them for a good many 
years; he gradually learned their language, and, 
in the course of time, discovered to what he owed 
his good fortune. 

It seems that the mound where he fell down 
exhausted was the grave of their chief who had 
just died. The stick that he found in the mound 
and took to assist him in walking, was the staff 
which the chief had carried for years, as the badge 
of his office. When the runaway convict appeared 
with this staff in his hand he was taken at once as 
the resurrected chief, in accordance with the belief 
already mentioned, which the natives express 
with the words: “Die black fellow, jump up 
white fellow.” 

The man had the good sense to rule the tribe so 
that it was not likely to suspect anything wrong 
about their peculiar belief as to the manner of the 
return of their chief. He taught them various 
things that were useful, and showed how they 
could make war upon their neighbors more suc- 
cessfully than they had done before. At that time 
the tribes were generally at war with each other, 
which was a very fortunate thing for the white 
settlers. If the blacks had combined against the 
strangers the latter would have had a very hard 
time of it. 


200 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


I have heard an interesting story of an expe* 
rienee with the Australian blaeks which I will 
endeavor to give, as nearly as possible, in the 
words of the narrator. 

I was in the service of the company that built 
the telegraph line across Australia from Adelaide 
to Port Darwin, and after the line was completed 
I had charge of one of the interior stations. The 
blacks gave us some trouble, but not much while 
we were building the line ; the fact was that the 
construction parties were sufficiently large to give 
them a warm reception, in case of an attack, and 
they prudently let us alone. They used to come 
around where we were at work, and one day the 
principal man among them walked for an hour or 
two along the line, making a critical examination 
of the posts and wires, and pacing the distance 
between the posts. 

Then he strode up to me and said, with an 
accent of insolence : 

“Me think white fellow one big fool.” 

When I tried to find out his reason for express- 
ing contempt for us in this way, he pointed to the 
telegraph line and said : 

“That piece of fence never stop cattle.” 

Before I could explain what the supposed fence 
was really intended for, he walked off with his 
nose very much in the air, and I never saw him 
again to my knowledge. 


A CORROBOREE IN AUSTRALIA. 


201 


Life at the telegraph station was very lonely, as 
there were no settlers for many miles, and we 



side ; and, furthermore, we thought that if they 
were once allowed an entrance it would be difficult 
to keep them out afterward. 

Things went on without trouble for several 
months, until the blacks had a corroboree in a 
little patch of forest, about a mile from the sta- 
tion. Perhaps you don’t know what a corrob- 
oree is ? 

Well, it’s a wild sort of dance, something like 
the dances among your American Indians, with 
local variations to suit the climate and people. 
The dancing is done by the men, who get them- 
selves up in the most fantastic manner imaginable 
with paint of various colors. They daub their 


202 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


faces in streaks and patches, and trace their ribs 
with white paint, so that they seem to have taken 
up lodgings on the outside of the bodies they 
belong to instead of the inside. Sometimes they 
are entirely naked, excepting the paint, and at 
others they wear strips of opossum skin around 
their waists and feathers in their hair. There are 
certain dances in which all the men and women of 
a tribe may join, and others where several tribes 
participate. These last dances are very apt to 
end in a fight, as the daneers work themselves into 
a condition of frenzy, in which the combative 
spirit is likely to display itself. 

At the corroboree I have referred to, there were 
men from several tribes, and consequently we 
feared mischief. The principal building of the 
station was a strong block-hou'se, and we made 
preparations to defend it vigorously in case of 
attack. We had half a dozen blacks in our serv- 
ice; they came from a tribe in another part of 
Australia, and as the wild blacks have a great 
hostilit}^ for any people of their color who go into 
the service of the white man, there was no danger 
of their deserting us. They would have been 
killed instantly if they had ventured near the cor- 
roboree, and therefore were inclined to vStick very 
close to the block-homse. 

Two of our black retainers went as near as they 
dared to the scene of the dance, and it was under- 
stood that they were to run home and give the 


A CORROBOREE IN AUSTRALIA. 


203 


signal in case the dancers showed signs of moving 
in our direction. The dance began a little after 
sunset, and in the still night air we could distinctly 
hear the shouting of the blacks and the sound of 
their drums, as time was kept for their move- 
ments. 

About midnight it seemed that the sounds were 
coming nearer to us, and very soon our sentinels 
came in breathless, and said the corroboree was 
breaking up, and the block- 
house was to be attacked. 

We got our rifles and re- 
volvers ready and stood to 
our posts. Mrs. Chatham 
could handle a rifle or pistol 
as well as any of us and 
signified her intention of 
doing her share of the 
work. We determined 
to shed no blood unless 
it should be abso- 
lutely necessary, as 
we were anxious 
to be on friendly 
terms with our 
black neighbors. 

The station was in 
the center of a 
ing, so that no one 
could approach it without being seen. In a little 



204 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


while we saw in the moonlight a mass of dark 
figures crossing the open space to the south, 
and, judging by the ground they covered, there 
were at least a hundred of them. They advanced 
quietly about half-way across the clearing,, and 
then came forward at a run, while they filled the 
air with yells. 

They were armed with spears and boomerangs, 
and as soon as they came within reach of the 
building they flung their spears at it — a very fool- 
ish performance, as the weapons could do no harm 
against the thick sides of the structure. We made 
no indication of our presence, and this emboldened 
the fellows so that they rushed up close to the 
building and began to dance in front of it, all the 
time keeping up their frightful yeWs. 

“Bring me a rocket,’’ I said to Chatham, who 
was nearest to me. 

He brought me the rocket, and I fixed it so 
that it would go just above the heads of the 
crowd of yelling blacks. Then I touched a match 
to the fuse, and away the rocket sailed through 
the air. 

The fellows had never seen anything of the 
kind before, and to say they were taken by sur- 
prise is to express it very mildty. They could 
not have been more astonished if the moon had 
fallen among them, and with one 3^ell more 
unearthly than all the others that preceded it, 
they fled to the forest with the speed of a drove 





A COKROBOREE IN AUSTRALIA. 


207 


of frightened antelopes. They ran for miles, not 
even daring to stop at the place where their 
corroboree was held. 

We saved the station and ourselves without 
shedding a drop of blood. It was reported far 
and wide that we had “shot a star” at them, 
and we took pains to make it known that we 
had power to bring sun, moon and stars to our 
aid at any time we wanted them. — [iVew York 
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TREED BY AN ELEPHANT. 



HE African elephant is rapidly 
disappearing from the face of 
the earth. He is hunted by the 
natives, as well as by white 
men, and it is needless to say 
that the destruction caused by 


the latter is much more rapid than that of the 
black man. The blacks have only their rude spears 
and similar weapons of aboriginal life, while the 
white has rifles of great range and power, and 
as if these were not enough, his work of destruc- 
tion is further aided by the deadly bullet. 

The demand for ivory has given that com- 
modity a high price, so that the hunt is carried 
on relentlessly from year’s beginning to year’s 
end, and altogether it is safe to predict that the 
history of the American bison is to be that of 
the African elephant. In Asia the elephant 
would have disappeared long ago if he had not 
been protected by law; in all Asiatic countries 
he is carefully preserved and the killing of ele- 
phants is strictly forbidden. 

14 209 


210 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


Now and then there is an elephant hunt in 
India, Ceylon, Siam or Burmah, but it is for 
eapture and not for slaughter. The wild elephants 
are driven into an enelosure and not one of them 
is in the least degree injured. Sueh as are wanted 
for working or sale purposes are seleeted and the 
others are allowed to go free. The government 
of India has an offieial whose sole duty it is to 
look after the preservation of the elephants, and 
he has written an interesting book on the subjeet. 

But in Africa there is no restriction upon the 
slaughter, as there is no government worthy the 
name having any authority over the region 
where the elephant lives. Enterprising English- 
men who wish to add to their prowess as hunters 
of elephants go to the Dark Continent, and, if 
they do not lose their lives in encounters with 
the huge beasts, are sure to come back with a 
goodly number of tusks to show us the result of 
their campaigns. It has been hinted that some of 
these hunters do not venture at all into the wilder- 
ness, or certainly not very far, but buy their 
trophies from dealers in ivory and rely upon their 
imaginations to make up the necessary story of 
dangers they have encountered. 

Their prototypes may be found among the 
American fishermen, who purchase in the market 
or from professional catchers the salmon and 
trout on which they regale their friends while 
telling of their exciting contests with the finny tribe. 


TREED BY AN ELEPHANT. 


211 


The African elephant is much more vicious 
than his Asiatic cousin, both in fighting for his 
life and liberty and in resisting the blandish- 
ments and cruelties of the elephant tamer. He 
may readily be distinguished from the Asiatic 
elephant by his ears, the former variety having 
ears about three times the size of the latter. 

The famous and lamented Jumbo was an 
African, and many readers will remember the 

enormous ears 
that reached far 
I back upon his 
^shoulders. For an 
African he was 
unusualH docile, 
but it has been 




more than hinted that 
he had a temper of 
which the general public 
was kept in ignorance. 

The managers of the 
London Zoological Gar 
dens were as anxious to 
be rid of him as Mr. Barnum was to buy him. 

A friend of the writer spent several years in 


212 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


Africa and indulged several times in hunting 
elephants, partly for the sake of the sport and 
partly for the ivory. He had some narrow 
eseapes, and his last exploit was such a “close 
call,” as he expressed it, that he concluded to 
stick to pursuits which were less risky in char- 
acter. I will endeavor to give his story in his 
own words as nearly as possible. 

I used to go out and shoot elephants when 
they came to the water-holes to drink. In South 
Africa, as in many other parts of the country, 
the water -holes are not numerous, and all wild 
animals come there to drink. 

There seems to be a sort of truce between them 
at the drinking-places, as I rarely knew them to 
attack each other while there, though they were 
ready enough to fight at other times. I have 
known an elephant and a rhinoceros to drink 
within twenty yards of each other and then go 
peaceably away, each in his own direction; it is 
commonly believed that these animals always 
join battle whenever they meet in open country, 
their mutual antipathies being like those of the 
dog and cat, only a good deal intensified. In 
such battles the rhinoceros generally gets the 
best of it. His short and powerful horn has 
remarkable ripping qualities and when he gets it 
into an elephant he lays him open as though he 
were making a Panama canal of him. 





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OXE NIGHT I FIRED AT AN ELEPHANT, 













Treed by an Elephant. 


215 


The method of shooting at a water-hole is to 
dig a pit about breast high, so that you can rest 
your rifle upon the edge as you stand up to shoot. 
You must be careful to have it in such a position 
that the animals cannot get your wind, that is, 
you must be where the wind blows from the 
pool toward you. Elephants are very keen on 
the scent, and if they get the faintest hint through 
their nostrils that a human being is anywhere 
around they are off. They will go without 
water for days rather than run into danger 
knowingly. 

One night I fired at an elephant — an immense 
fellow he was, — when he was not more than 
thirty yards away. The light was dim, as there 
was no moon, and I couldn’t get good aim, and 
my bullet did not hit him in a vital part. He 
was frightened and ran, and the worst of it was 
he van right over where I was lying in the pit I 
had made for my concealment. 

He saw me just in time to save his feet from 
crashing down upon me ; the pit was only about 
three feet across, and he stepped right over it as 
he would have stepped over a narrow gully in the 
plain. If he had not been so frightened he might 
have finished me there and then with very little 
trouble. 

The next day I went out to stalk elephants. I 
was accompanied by two servants and rode my 
favorite horse as far as the edge of a plain, where 


216 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


I saw several elephants. There were a few trees 
on the plain, and under these trees the animals 
were feeding; they alternated the small twigs of 
the trees with wisps of grass, which they tore 
from the ground with their trunks, and all the 
time kept a sharp eye out for danger. 

I maneuvered around until I got so that the 
wind blew from the elephants in my direction, and 
then slowly proceeded to creep up or “stalk ’’ the 
beasts. The largest of them was feeding by him- 
self, and for this reason, and also because of his 
size, I marked him for slaughter. He had 
enormous tusks, and I thought they would make 
the finest trophy that any hunter had ever taken 
away from Africa to set up in his hallway or 
library at home. 

Of course, I left my horse and attendants far in 
the back ground and was creeping forward with 
my rifle ready for use whenever wanted. It took 
me an honr or more to get where I wanted to be, 
and even after I was within shooting distance I 
could not get him to present a favorable side for a 
shot. 

I knew that I must hit hard or run the risk of my 
life. I wanted to put a bullet into his heart, and 
with this object in view, sought a side shot. He 
was fairly head on toward me while I was lying 
still in the grass, or rather on the side of an ant 
hill, whose inhabitants were making it very lively 


TREED BY AN ELEPHANT. 


217 


for me. They ran all over me beneath my clothes, 
and bit at every step. I eouldn’t scratch or move 
for fear of disturbing the elephant, and my only 
resouree was to grin and bear it and make silent 
remarks that indicated my wounded feelings. 

Well, at last the old fellow turned his side 
toward me and I fired. I hit him hard, but not 
hard enough. The bullet didn’t touch his heart, 
and he had any quantity of fight in him. Throw- 
ing his trunk in the air and giving a loud roar of 
pain and anger, he rushed in the direction whence 
the shot was fired, and I then knew that it was a 
race for life. 

I ran and he ran, and he gained on me at every 
step. Not far away was a little hill on which 
were several trees of medium size, and this hill I 
made for as fast as I could go. The elephant can- 
not run rapidly while going around a hill. If you 
are ever chased b}^ one and have a hill in your 
way, your best plan is to run around it as his 
footing is bad there. He can go up or down hill 
faster than a man can, but not along its side. 

Round and round this little elevation we ran 
two or three times. I gained on him a little, but 
knew he could keep it up longer than I and the 
performance would come to an end before long. 
So I watched my chance, and, slinging my rifle 
over my shoulder, caught at the lower limbs of a 
tree and swung myself up out of reach. 


218 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


He stopped under the tree, surveyed the situa- 
tion. Then went baek about twent}^ yards and 
converted himself into a battering ram of extraor- 
dinary power. 

He came at the tree with the force of a railway 
train, and would have shaken me off like a ripe 
apple if I had not clung with the strength of des- 
peration. He came at it a second and then a 
third time, and I saw that if he was allowed to 
continue he would certainly bring me down. 

What to do I did n’t know, but fortune came to 
my aid. 

When he went back for his fourth assault he 
presented a good side to me, and I gave him a bul- 
let. It reached 
his heart, and 
as he came at 
the tree he fell 
at its base. 
With a few con- 
vulsive move- 
ments he be- 
came still, but 
to make sure 
that he was dead I fired another bullet into him, 
and found he remained motionless. 

Then I descended cautiously and surveyed my 
prize. He measured eleven feet ground to 
shoulder, and his tusks weighed one hundred and 
fifty pounds each. 



TREED BY AN ELEPHANT. 


219 


I found a bullet in him that showed he was the 
very one that I had wounded at the water-hole, 
and I will add that he was the last elephant 1 
killed in A_friea. 






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STOPPED BY RUSSIAN ROBBERS. 



T was in the mid- 


dle of an autumn 
night that I 
started from a lit- 
tle town at the 
head of naviga- 
tion on the 
Amoor river for a 


land journey through Siberia. Five thousand 
miles of road lay between me and the terminus of 
the railway at Nijni Novgorod; five thousand 
miles of travel behind horses in wheeled carriages 
and sleighs, over mountains and plains, across 
rivers where bridges were unknown and floods 
were often dangerous, through a sparsely settled 
country where robbers were far from unknown, 
and where wolves and other wild animals had 
their hunting grounds. Winter was near with its 
short days and long nights, with its deep snows 
and terrific bourans (hurricanes) in which men 
and horses who braved their fury ran great risk of 
destruction. A part of my journey would be 


221 



222 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


accomplished before the coming of winter, but by 
far the greater portion would remain for the 
period when the frost king is the dominant power 
and much more to be dreaded than the autocratic 
czar. And yet, in spite of all its objectionable 
features, winter is greatly to be preferred to the 
summer for traveling in Siberia. In the warm 
season the roads may be dusty or they may be 
muddy, and in whichever of these conditions they 
present themselves they are superlative examples 
of their kind. Mosquitoes, flies and other insect 
pests abound in great numbers; the crossings of 
the streams must be made by ford or ferry, and in 
either case there are often long delays on the 
rivers’ . banks. Provisions are difficult to obtain 
along the route, and the summer heat makes it 
impossible to carry more than a small supply of 
perishable articles ; and furthermore, the summer 
vehicle is of much more heavy draught than the 
winter one, and consequently the speed is less. 
The frost seals the rivers and hardens the mud; 
the snow covers the dust and smooths the road. 
Mosquitoes and all their kindred winged nuisanees 
are unknown in the winter, and as for provisions, 
one may carry sufficient to last him with ease 
from one large town to another, where supplies 
are easy to obtain. By all odds winter is the time 
for Siberian travel, though the sun rises after nine 
in the morning and sets before three in the after- 
noon. There is more monotony to the winter 


STOPPED BY RUSSIAN ROBBERS. 


223 


journey than the summer one, but in nearly every 
other respect it is far preferable. 

The stations where we change horses are from 
ten to twenty miles apart, and between the sta- 
tions every verst — two-thirds of a mile — is dis- 
tinctly indicated upon a post set in the ground at 
the roadside. In front of the station house there 
is a larger post which indicates the distance to 
each of the neighboring stations, east and west, 
and also the distance to Moscow and St. Peters- 
burg. When I started on my ride it was more 
than eight thousand versts to the capital of the 
empire. I confess to a feeling of “goneness” as 
I read the figures indicat 
great distance and noted 
tion to station how very 
they diminished ; “ 7,853 ” 
seems but a trifle less than 
“7,871,” especially when 
the figures are contem- 
plated after one has been 
shaken for hours over a 
road that resembles a nut- 

meg grater on a Rrnh- 

dignagian scal< 
has passed at 
full gallop in a 
springless ve- 
hicle, over sec- 

tion after section of “corduroy,” composed ol 



224 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


unhewn logs laid down with no particular care. 
The continual and long-continued jolting gives 
rise to what the Russians call “the road-fever,” 
in which the blood is excited to a high degree 
and the movements of the vehicle cause a rush 
of the crimson fluid to the head, till it seems 
as though the skull was ready to burst at every 
fresh shake. Novices are almost absolutely cer- 
tain to experience it within the first day or two 
of their journeys, and even the old stagers are 
liable to it at any time. The traveler thus 
afilicted loses his temper on the slightest prov- 
ocation, and until the fever subsides he is far 
more irascible than the traditional “bear with a 
sore head.” It is fortunate that the American 
stranger is generally ignorant of the language of 
the countr}^, else he might visit upon the unoflend- 
ing drivers and station men with whom he comes 
in contact an amount of wicked words that would 
link his memory with uncomplimentary associa- 
tions. I remark by the way that the Russian 
language has a tropical abundance of profanity 
and objurgation. Through the whole of the vocab- 
ulary of daily life there is a corresponding wealth 
of idiomatic expletives that a Sixth warder might 
envy. Even in ordinary conversation one hears 
cultivated ladies and gentleihen exclaim “ Ye 
Bogtl^' (By God!) quite as frequently as a 
French woman says “Mon Dieu!” or the typical 
New Englander is credited with remarking “Do 


STOPPED BY RUSSIAN ROBBERS. 


225 


But it should be remembered that Russia 
eovers an eighth of the land surfaee of the globe, 
and has a population exeeeding one hundred 
million. Consequently no ordinary language 
could do justice to the country and its people. 

After the ordinary questions relating to food 
and drink and the exigencies of daily existence in 
general, the first words for a Siberian traveler to 
learn are the equivalents for the Yankee “Go 
ahead!” Learn to say “Pos/20/.^” (“Faster!”) 
with an emphasis to raise the roof and the accent 
on the last syllable; then learn “vStupie.^” and 
Skorey which are also accented on the 
ultimate and have a meaning equivalent to 
*'^PoshoL^' Try them on your driver when he is 
deliberate in his movements, and note the effect. 
He will generally accelerate the speed of his team, 
and his efforts to do so will be increased if you add 
to your injunction, “Ham na vodkuP It may 
seem to the uninitiated that the phrase savors of 
profanity, but such is not the case; it simply 
means “I will give you drink money.” The hope 
of reward is as strongly seated in the breast of 
the Siberian yemshick as in that of the Paris 
cochcr, the London cabby, or the New York hack- 
man. Liberal “Aa Vodku^^ on a Russian post 
road will sometimes accomplish wonders. I have 
known ten or twelve miles an hour to be made by 
a sleigh under its influence, and on one occasion I 

15 


226 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 



held my watch in my 
timed a speed of 
two versts, or four- 
two-thirds miles, in 
just sixty minutes. 
Nowhere does the 
definition of grati- 
tude, as a 
, lively an- 
ticipation of favors to come, 
apply with greater force 
than on a Siberian road. 
Reward poorly the yemshick who has driven well, 
or reward liberally the one who has driven you 
badly, and you can be sure of being badly served 
on the next course. But give with careful dis- 
crimination, and if there’s a possibility of speed 
without too much infringement on the rules in 
regard to over-driving, you’ll be sure to get it. 
The station master and his drivers have different 
views on this subject, as the former is the owner 
of the stock, and therefore the sufferer when a 
horse is killed. But you have the advantage that 
the master is at the station, while the driver is 
with you ; for the time at least he is in sole control 
of the team, and is generall}^ amenable to bribes. 

Siberia is best known to the rest of the world as 
the land of exiles. Since the time of Peter the 
Great it has been the place of banishment for 
those who offend against the sovereign of Russia 


STOPPED BY RUSSIAN ROBBERS. 


227 


and its laws. Ordinarily from ten to twelve 
thousand criminals are sent there every year ; the 
occasional revolts in Poland and the present 
spread of nihilism through the empire add more 
or less largely to the involuntary emigration. In 
some years twenty or thirty thousand exiles, 
including criminals and politicals, have been sent 
to Siberia, and of this great number compar- 
atively few are ever returned to Europe. It 
naturally follows that Siberia is filled with an 
undue proportion of the criminal classes. Many 
of the criminal exiles have been sent there for 
small offenses, and are, consequently, of the cate- 
gory of simple detenus, or “detained in the 
country.” They can do pretty much as they like, 
as long as they do not return to Europe; can 
wander from place to place, and take any employ- 
ment that is open to them. The result is the 
country is full of tramps, and on occasions when 
there is a chance of making an honest penny by 
highway robbery, the tramps are not slow to 
embrace it. In the winter the weather is too cold 
for their operations, and they mostl}^ hibernate in 
the towns, like the tramps of enlightened America, 
so that the roads are comparatively safe; but if 
you carry any baggage on the rear of your sleigh 
it must be fastened with chains and not with 
ropes, which can be cut away. In the spring the 
tramp’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of rural 
strolling, and he continues to wander till the. 


228 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


snows fall again. It is in this period that he is 
dangerous to the traveler, or rather to certain 
classes of travelers. He does not attack a govern- 
ment courier, as he knows he can, and probably 
will, be shot down without mercy, and besides, 
the courier does not carry much money about 
him. The same reasons apply to travelers of the 
second class ; officers on private business, and not 
traveling en courrier, and the game of the Siberian 
robber consists of the third-class travelers — mer- 
chantvS — who are not often armed, and far more 
likel^^ to have large sums of money about them 
than are the officials. Besides, the robbery or 
death of an official would rouse a very unpleasant 
hue and cry, while the same calamity to a mer- 
chant would be — well, it would not make so much 
trouble for the tramp. 

Every traveler must have a paderojnia or road 
pass on which is his name, destination, and the 
number of horses to which he is entitled. A first- 
class paderojnia is for government couriers, and 
very high officials, while the second and third 
classes of travelers are described in the preceding 
paragraph. I was accompanied by a Russian 
officer, a captain on staff dut}^ and we had a 
second-class paderojnia, together with a special 
letter from the governor of the province introduc- 
ing me to the station masters, and urging them 
to facilitate my journey. The pass and letter 
were potent, and we had no delay at the stations ; 


STOPPED BY RUSSIAN ROBBERS. 


229 


if there were no horses ready they were promptly 
impressed from the villagers, and paid for at the 



SIBEUIAN POST HORSES, 

government rates, aceording to custom. Some- 
times we reached a station just as a third-class 
traveler was ready to start with a fresh team. 
There being no other horses, the team was 
detached from his vehicle and attached to ours 
and away we sped, leaving him to gnash his teeth 
and perhaps wait for hours before he could be sup- 
plied*. Yes, of course, it was rough on him, but 
then it was the custom of the country, and I was 
powerless to change the laws and ways of the 
empire; besides, if we had been in his position 
when a first-class traveler arrived we should have 
been subject to the same treatment. Once, when 
we saw a courier approaching and before the sta- 
tion master caught sight of him, we bundled into 


230 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


our vehicle and were off as though we expected a 
volcano to burst under us and were trying to get 
out of its way. 

By day there was little fear of trouble from the 
highwaymen, as these fellows do not generally 
operate in the light, and besides it was easy to 
see that we did not belong to the desirable class 
for plunder. At night we kept our revolvers 
handy and were prepared to use them if necessary ; 
my friend, the captain, said that according to 
Russian law it is not permitted to shoot the rob- 
bers that attack you unless you are outnumbered ; 
that is, as we were two — driver and horses not 
being considered of the fighting force — we would 
not be permitted to use our firearms with killing 
intent if only two men attacked us, while if the 
robbers were three or more in number we would 
not be under legal restraint. “And let us hope 
there will be three of them if they come at all,” he 
said, as he looked at the caps on the nipples of his 
revolver, while I as carefully examined those of 
my weapon. In the language of the bounding 
West he was “spoiling for a fight,” and would 
have welcomed a dozen highwaymen in a body 
without hesitation. It is not necessary to give in 
extenso my own views on the subject ; suffice it to 
say that I have always held to the principal that 
it is unwise for a traveler in a foreign country to 
interfere with its social or political laws and cus- 
toms and therefore I was in favor of peace. 


STOPPED BY RUSSIAN ROBBERS. 


231 



We were slowly crawling through the mud one 
dark night, my companion being sound asleep 
while I was beginning to nod, when I heard sharp 
voices in front of us and our carriage came to a 
halt. The road was lined with a thick growth of 


willows on either side and the shade of the trees 
added to the darkness of the clouded and moon- 
less sky. You could see your hand before you, but 
you couldn’t see the hand of a man ten feet away. 
I could discern the outline of the driver on the box 
with tolerable distinctness, and what was more 
to the point I could see some shadowy forms 


232 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


emerging from the bushes and taking position at 
the heads of our horses. I spoke in French to the 
captain and he was awake in an instant, and not 
only awake but had his pistol in hand. I could not 
make out how many there were that had stopped 
us, but it seemed that there ought to be three or 
four at least. “There are certainly three of 
them,” said the captain, and then he fired, not the 
revolver but his mouth, from which emerged a 
volley of strange oaths such as the soldier in 
Shakespeare’s “Seven Ages” never dreamed of. 
The verbal discharge ended, he gave them a shot 
from his revolver, and I followed his example. 
Whether either of our shots had any effect I know 
not, but do not believe we did any execution. 
The night was dark, the forms of our assailants 
were dim almost to nothingness, and our aim 
could not have been accurate; at any rate, I’m 
sure mine wasn’t. Besides, no game was picked 
up either then or afterward. It is proper to say 
that if any of the robbers had been killed he or 
they would have been quietly buried by the local 
authorities, and no fuss made about the matter. 

However improper from a moral point of view 
and shocking to the religious teacher the captain’s 
profanity was fully as important in ridding us of 
of our assailants as were the shots from the 
pistols. With the severe rule that is exercised over 
the lower classes in Russia no man who travels 
with a third class paderojnia can learn to swear 


STOPPED BY RUSSIAN ROBBERS. 

with earnestness and emphasis like that displayed 
by my comrade; his expletives and the way in 
which they were uttered told the robbers in an 
instant that they had “waked the wrong passen- 
ger” and were in for a fight, with very little chance 
of plunder if successful. The shots from our 
revolvers accentuated the oaths and the fellows 
gave up their enterprise, disappeared in the dark- 
ness, and we were at liberty to continue our 
journey. I’m sure that my friend the Russian cap- 
tain could give points to the army that swore so 
terribly in Flanders, and win the game in the end. 





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-9 


A BATTLE WITH A KANGAROO. 


HEN Captain Cook returned from 
the South Seas and described the 
' kangaroo, his account was 
received with a great deal of 
doubt. That an animal as large 
as a man should travel only on its hind feet by 
making wonderful jumps, at such a speed as to 
leave the swiftest horse behind, was too much to 
believe, until the naturalists remembered that 
there was a field-mouse, the jerboa, in Europe, 
which traveled in the same way as the kangaroo, 
and could get over the ground with great rapid- 
ity. It was thought that, perhaps, the captain 
had seen an enormous jerboa, and mistaken it for 
a new variety of beast, and so he was absolved 
from the charge of downright falsehood, though 
not from exaggeration. In course of time, the 
correctness of his assertion was established. A 
study of the animals of Australia has shown that 
there are no fewer than eight S'pecies of large kan- 
garoo, and some twenty and more smaller kinds, 
in addition to an assorted lot of hare, jerboa 

235 



236 


THE TAEKING HANDKERCHIEF 


and rat-kangaroos, all of them getting along in 
the world by means of their hind legs only. 

The red kangaroo of South Australia is the 
largest of all the lot. Speeimens of this ereature 
have been found weighing very nearl}^ two hundred 
pounds, and measuring eight feet in length from 
nose to end of tail. Sydney Smith says the kan- 
garoo takes about five hops to eover a mile, but 
the doetor is evidently inelined to exaggerate more 
than was Captain Cook. From fifteen to twenty 
feet may be taken as the outside limit of a kan- 
garoo’s leap, and that only when he is trying to 
escape from danger. 

Before the settlement of Australia, the numbers 
of the kangaroo were kept down by the aborigi- 
nals and the dingoes. The aboriginals hunted the 
kangaroo for food, and the dingo did like- 
wise. The dingo is' the native wild dog of 
Australia, and a very near relative of the wolf 
and the jackal. He is fond of sheep, and the set- 
tlers found it necessary to kill him off by poison 
and in other ways, in order to prevent the total 
destruction of their flocks. The aboriginals 
diminished in numbers, in consequence of their 
contact with civilization, and with the removal of 
his natural enemies, the kangaroo increased so 
rapidly that he threatened to kill off the sheep 
by eating up all the grass in the country. He lives 
entirely on grass, and can eat a great deal of it, 
and when a herd or flock of kangaroos estab- 


A BATTLE WITH A KANGAROO. 


237 


lishes itself on a sheep run, it is a very serious mat- 
ter for the owner of the place. Hence it was nec- 
essary to hunt him down and get rid of him ; the 
government gave a bounty for the scalps of all 
kangaroos that were killed ; the flesh was useful 
as food for men and dogs, and the skin was found 
to be useful for making leather. Hunting the kan- 
garoo furnishes very fair sport, as there is a good 
deal of hard riding and some danger connected 
with it, and that is what every sportsman likes. 
Every visitor to Australia is reasonably sure to be 
invited to hunt the kangaroo, and, as we are vis- 
iting the land of the antipodes just now, we will 
accept the invitation. 

While we are making our preparations, let us 
listen to the story of one who has had a good 
deal of experience in that line of sport. 

“ My first hunt is hardly worthy the name, as it 
was more a slaughter than anything else. It was 
a battue, or ‘drive,’ and was intended to dispose 
of several hundreds of the animals at once. A 
yard with a fence so high that the animals could 
not jump over it was built in a clump of trees on 
a broad plain where kangaroos abounded ; it was 
built among the trees, so that the kangaroos 
would not be aware of its existence until too late 
for them to escape. Then, too, when these crea- 
tures are pursued, they always run in the direc- 
tion of water, and there was a small pond among 
the scrub where the yard was. From the yard 


238 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


two fences that widened out like the sides of a V 
were built out on the plain for several miles, and 
everybody was made aware of their locality. A 
da}" was fixed for the drive, and all the settlers 
together with every man, white or black, who 
could be spared from his daily duties, was expected 
to come and join in the run. 

“I was stopping with a friend who had a large 
sheep station, and we went to bed soon after sun- 
set in order to be off three or four hours before 
daylight. As we reached the plain we spread out 
so as to cover a wide sweep. There were ten or 
twelve men with my friend, and we were all well 



mounted, and as we spread out in a long line we 
soon found that each end of it joined upon similar 
lines. The object was to sweep over a great area 
of CQuntry and drive the kangaroos into the jaws 


A BATTLE WITH A KANGAROO. 


239 


of the V. As soon as they were within the jaws 
they were to be urged on toward the point where 
the fences came together at the yard. 

“That we covered a great deal of country 
you will understand when I tell you that it was 
near noon when we got the herd inclosed in the 
jaws of the fences, and two hours after that time 
when they were safely yarded. There were eight- 
een hundred and more, the most of them full 
grown, and it seemed to my experienced eyes that 
there were nearer eighteen thousand. 

“It was a curious thing to see the prodigious 
leaps they made, especially when they entered the 
yard, and realized that they were in danger. 
Soon as they were yarded they jumped wildly 
from one side to the other of the inclosure, and 
vainly tried to leap over the fence. A kangaroo 
can easil}^ jump over a horse, and a fence must be 
not less than seven feet high to prevent his leaping 
it. The fence of our yard was eight leet at least, 
and not a kangaroo succeeded in getting over it. 

“How did we kill them? Well, we didn’t do 
the killing, but the whole business was left to 
the blacks, as we call the aboriginals that we 
employ on the sheep and cattle stations. The 
blacks have a fiendish fondness for shedding 
blood, and a kangaroo drive is their delight, as it 
affords them a good opportunity for slaughter. 
Armed with clubs they went in among the crea- 
tures in the yard, and the sight was so sickening 


240 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


that I soon turned away and went to the farther 
side of the tree-clump to eat the luncheon for 
which all of us had created good appetites by our 
long ride. 

“ A few days after this I had my first kangaroo 
hunt, and came very near losing the number ol 
my mess.’ My friend had a pack of kangaroo- 
dogs that were considered the best in that part of 
the country ; they were bred and trained for that 
purpose just as fox-hounds are bred and trained in 
your part of the world. We were mounted on 
two of the best horses on the station, and had 
two blacks along also well mounted — their busi- 
ness being to take charge of the dogs and make 
themselves useful. A black was sent out two or 
three hours ahead of us to locate a group of kan- 
garoos and meet us at a designated point. 

“We met him as agreed, and he indicated where 
some kangaroos were feeding, a little distance 
beyond a clump of trees which he pointed out. 
We went along very quietly, using the trees as a 
screen, and managed to get within a quarter of a 
mile of them before they saw u.*^. They stood 
on their hind legs and took a good look at us, 
and then they jumped as though an electric bat- 
tery had been turned on beneath them. 

“We started the dogs, and it was a sharp race 
between them and the kangaroos, the latter hav- 
ing such a good start that the dogs didn’t seem to 
have much of a show. We had roused up a kan- 


A BATTLE WITH A KANGAROO. 


241 


garoo family of seven in all; the youngest being a 
‘joey’ that as soon overtaken by the dogs and 
killed. The head of the family was an ‘old man,’ 
as we call the full-grown males, and he was a fine 
fellow, standing nearly six feet high. 

“ The ‘ old man ’ led off as though he had started 
to win the Melbourne cup, and his leaps seemed to 
be thirty or forty feet long, but, of counse were 
not. He went over the ordinary cattle fences as 
though they were so many straws, and the rest of 
them did the same, all save another joey that 
came to grief and was disposed of by the dogs as 
the first one had been. The killing of the joeys 
delayed things so much that the dogs had not yet 
got up to the old man when he reached a water- 
hole, about five miles from where we started. And 
it was at the water-hole that I realized the dan- 
gers of a kangaroo hunt. 

“The old man was in the water up to his neck 
and the dogs were swimming around or standing 
at the edge of the hole as we came up. We came 
on at full speed, and my horse stopped so short at 
the edge of the water that I was pitched over his 
head right into the pool. The impetus carried me 
a good distance forward, and as the water-hole 
was a small one I was within a few feet of the 
kangaroo, who was standing at bay ready to 
fight to the last. He made for me at once. 

“When a kangaroo is pursued and can get to 

water, he has men and dogs at an advantage. 

16 


242 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


The experienced dogs know enough to keep out of 
his reach, but the young ones are apt to venture 
too near, and are suddenly seized in the creature’s 
fore-legs, which serve him as arms. He holds the 
dogs under water till he drowns them, or he may 
rip them open with his hind leg, which has a pow- 
erful claw in front; this claw can inflict a fatal 
wound at a single blow, and very often, in a hunt, 
one or more of the dogs are apt to be killed by it. 
When he cannot get to water, the kangaroo places 
his back against the largest tree he can find and 
defends himself with a bravery that is worthy of 
admiration. It is dangerous for dogs or men to 
venture within his reach at this time, and if his 
hunters are unprovided with firearms, the fight 
may last for some time and quite likely^ result in 
favor of the kangaroo. 

“The kangaroo reached me with his fore paws, 
but before he could grasp me, one of the dogs had 
him by the throat and diverted his attention long 
enough to enable me to get out of the way with 
the aid of one of the blacks, who jumped into the 
pool almost as soon as I was thrown there. The 
water was about four feet deep, and I scrambled 
out very quickly. 

“Seeing that I was safe, my friend’s next concern 
was for his favorite dog. Jack, that was risking 
himself on my account. The kangaroo folded his 
^.rms around the dog and then proceeded to push 


A BATTLE WITH A KANGAROO. 


243 


him tinder the water but his proeeedings were 
brought to an end by a shot from my friend’s rifle, 
whieh he had unslung from his shoulder. He made 
a good shot ; the kangaroo fell, his hold on the 
dog relaxed, and the black who had helped save me 
from the animal’s clutches rushed in to bring the 
faithful Jack to the surface. Before he could get 
there, the dog was on the top of the water, con- 
siderably bruised by the rough embrace he had 
received, and his lungs partly full of water, but he 
had no bones broken, and was not wounded in 
any way. You may believe I did everything I 
could for that intelligent animal, and in a little 
while, he was all right, and seemed to appreciate 
my attention to him. The other dogs gathered 
around and showed their sympathy in canine 
ways, and they evidently considered my four- 
footed benefactor the hero of the day. 

“The kangaroo’s body was dragged out and 
skinned, and the meat fed to the dogs. The 
flesh of the ‘old man’ is too rank for table use, 
but a young kangaroo is excellent eating; it 
resembles mutton, and can be cooked in the same 
way as that meat. It is put up in tin cans for 
preservation, and great quantities are sent to 
England, where kangaroo soup is quite popular. 

“The funniest kangaroo hunt I ever saw was 
one that I watched with a telescope. One of the 
blacks dressed himself with bushes, so that h^ 


244 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


looked like a small tree. Then he advanced 
toward a kangaroo that was feeding on the plain. 
He remained motionless when the animal looked 
up, but moved very slowly on whenever the feeding 
began again. He must have been an hour going 
half a mile, but he got there all right, and sent a 
spear through the side of his victim without so 
much as asking his leave.” 


A RUSSIAN ELOPEMENT. 


of the richest mineral 
regions in the world is in 
the Ural mountains, which 
form a natural boundary 
between Europe and Asia. 
It is less than three hun- 
dred years since the head- 
man of a tribe of Cos- 
sac'ks on the Don was 
obliged to leave his 
country for his country’s 
good. He sought the Ural mountains, and after 
making himself disagreeable to the aboriginal 
inhabitants, he crossed beyond the dividing ridge 
and entered Asia. Yermak, as this headman was 
called, proved to be an enterprising explorer, and 
made a through conquest of all the country he 
traveled over. Settlers followed rapidly in his 
footsteps, and before his death several towns and 
villages had come into existence along the head- 
waters of the streams that have their source in 
the Urals, and meander thence to the sea. 

245 



246 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


The newly opened region proved rich in min- 
erals, and so long ago as during the reign of Peter 
the Great the countr}^ was carefully surveyed. A 
grant of land was given to Paul Demidoff in 
return for some valuable discoveries, and the 
returns from this grant have proved so rich that 
the Demidoff estate now ranks as one of the first, 
if not the first, in Russia. Mines of gold, silver, 
copper and semi-precious stones, have been 
opened there, and the returns to the proprietor 
and the government amount to millions of dollars 
every year. The precious metals are the least 
important of the minerals from the Urals, as the 
value of the iron and copper taken out there every 
year greatly exceeds them. Nearly every reader of 
this page is familiar with the appearance of Russia 
sheet iron, and will be interested to know that it 
all comes from the Ural mountains and mostly 
from the Demidoff estate. From the same locality 
came “Old Sable iron,” stamped with the figure 
of a sable, the emblem of Siberia. It was formerly 
very popular with American blacksmiths but is 
now practically unknown on the west of the 
Atlantic owing to the improved quality of Ameri- 
can iron. 

From the point where the great road from Mos- 
cow to Siberia crosses the Ural mountains one can 
travel a hundred miles either north or south along 
the chain, and find at frequent intervals prosper- 
ous mining towns and villages. One of these con- 


A RUSSIAN ELOPfiMENl^. 


247 


tains twenty-five thousand inhabitants, another 
twenty thousand, another eighteen, and so on 
downward, until some may be found whose entire 
population numbers but a few hundred. In former 
times many of the laborers in the mines and foun^ 
dries were serfs belonging either to the govern^ 
ment or to the parties who owned the soil^ and 
conducted the business of preparing the metals for 
market. The serf received a weekly allowance of 
meat and flour from his master, and a small pa}^- 
ment in money. If the work did not please him, 
he was not allowed to leave it, but in some 
instances he was permitted to purchase a release, 
and set up for himself. The imperial ukase abol- 
ishing serfdom made these men free, and assigned 
them lands, which they could cultivate on their 
own account, and hold as their property until 
death carried them off, as it has carried off other 
freemen in all parts of the world. One effect of 
emancipation was to increase the rates of labor, 
and, consequently, the price of Siberian iron is aug- 
mented, and competes less favorably with iron 
from other parts of the world. 

The Demidoff estate carried with it a hereditary 
title of nobility. The elder Demidoff was named a 
count by Peter the Great, and his descendants in 
the male line have inherited his rank. The count- 
esses of the Demidoff family have been considered 
desirable matches, as they possessed handsome 
figures, in a pecuniary sense, if not in a literal one. 


248 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


Most of them were united to members of other 
titled families in Russia, and led as happy and 
exemplary lives as Russians usually lead. As for 
the maseuline Demidoffs, some of them have been 
rather fast in their habits, while others have been 
as orderly and subdued as the most fastidious 
Puritan eould desire, with the exeeption of eertain 
little vices that abound in Russia, and which 
nobody considers objectionable. 

There are several other families in the Ural 
mountains that would be considered remarkably 
wealthy were they not so completely over- 
shadow’'ed by the Demidoffs. Some of their estates 
cover thousands of acres, and before the emancipa- 
tion they could enumerate their serfs by companies 
and battalions. Though less wealthy than they 
were before the emancipation, they are still in 
possession of handsome revenues, and pay large 
taxes annually to the crown. 

I heard in Russia a story concerning one of these 
families, in which there is a great deal of the 
romantic mixed up with practical common sense. 
The family prided itself, as most of the old families 
do in Russia, on the titles and wealth it possessed, 
especially the former. With many Russians a title 
is of more consequence than a rich estate ; the pos- 
sessor of hereditary rank would be very unwilling 
to drop it, even though in doing so he might fill 
his empty purse and be put in condition to enjoy 
the comforts and luxuries of life. Every person 


A RUSSIAN ELOPEMENT. 


249 


that can do so bears a title, and there are many 
individuals calling themselves counts or princes 
who are poorer than many of the peasant class, 
upon whom they look with disdain. 

Of course a family like the Wymaneffs — the one 
referred to in the preceding paragraph — with the 
pride of rank and antiquity, could not fail to pos- 
sess the highe.st notion of aristocratic importance. 
The sons and daughters were carefully educated, 
and taught to believe that outside of the imperial 
family they had no superiors. As they grow up 
and assumed their positions in society, became 
heads of families, and dispensed liberal hospitality, 
they taught their children the lessons themselves 
had received. ‘‘I am a Russian nobleman,*’ was 
among the first phrases which a son ot the * 
Wymanefis learned to speak, and he never allowed 
it to escape from his memory. 

The daughters married as befitted their rank, all 
save one, and she is the heroine of the story. 

For Marie Wymaneff, educated with all the care 
her parents could bestow, loved below her rank 
and station. In her father’s household there was 
a poor tutor appointed to look after her younger 
brother, and teach him the mysteries of the 
Latin, Greek and German tongues. This tutor 
was a native of Lithuania, one of the German 
provinces of Russia, and had obtained his educa- 
tion in the famous school at Dorpat. Graduating 
with honors, but with an empty purse, he went to 


250 


THE TALKING HANDKEECMiEE. 


Moscow, and afterward Kazan, where he learned 
that a tutor was wanted in the Wymaneff family. 
Through the influence of one of the professors in 
the college of Kazan, he obtained the situation. 

There is no country in Western Europe where 
tutors and governesses are treated with as much 
consideration as in Russia. The^^ are made mem- 
bers of the families where they live, and enjoy all 
the privileges of the home circle. Beyond the time 
they devote to the instruction of the young people 
in their charge, they are quite free from dictation, 
and their company is generally sought and prized 
by the intelligent men and women around them. 
The governesses frequently accompany the young 
ladies in their evening parties, and are treated in 
all respects as equals. Especially is this the case in 
Siberia, where the barriers of society are less 
marked than in European Russia, and the tend- 
ency to democratic equality is so strong as to 
rouse the fears of some of the old school Russians. 

Carl Neustein attracted the attention of Marie 
Wymaneff before he had been a fortnight installed 
in his new position. She had met very few men 
besides her father and brothers, as the family lived 
at some distance from any other, and made and 
received visits at rare intervals. What wonder, 
then, that she thought the handsome young Ger- 
man, whose learning was great and conversation 
agreeable, the most charming and noble of his 
sex ? If it was not a ease of love at first sight, it 


A RtiSSlAN EL0PRMEN1\ 


2,^1 


was very near it, and Marie embraced every 
opportunity to 
be in the presence 
of her idol, and 
to listen to the 
words that fell 
from his lips. 

Her affection 
was returned, 
but Carl was not 
slow to perceive* 
that the consent 
of her parents 
could never be 
obtained to their 
marriage. So he 
told her, but she 
would not listen 
to his objections. 

He wished to 
abandon his en- 
gagement and 
seek a home else- 
where, in order 
that she might 
forget him, but 
she peremptorily 
forbade his taking any step in that direction, and 
ordered him to remain where he was. Of course 
he was not very obstinate when commanded by 



252 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


the woman he loved, and who loved him in return. 

Weeks and months wore away. Carl attended 
to his duties of tutor, and was liked by every mem- 
ber of the family where he lived. Marie busied her- 
self with the usual occupation of a Russian girl of 
noble blood, which includes a great deal of French 
and Russian novel-reading, and a fair amount of 
indolence. She had abundance of time to think of 
her affection, and the more she thought of it, the 
more intense it became. The course of true love 
ran smooth enovigh during all these months, the 
young people being much in each other’s society, 
though very rarely without the presence of others. 
It is not the custom in Rus.sia to leave two young 
persons of opposite sex together by themselves, 
and consequently there is far less of billing and 
cooing than in England or America. 

One day Marie was called to her mother’s side 
to learn that her hand had been asked by a young 
nobleman of excellent family, who lived at Ekater- 
inburg, and had made occasional visits to the 
Wymaneffs. Proposals for marriage in Russia are 
made through friends of the contracting parties, 
and not by the persons most deeply interested. 
Thus, if Paul becomes enamored of Lydia, he 
sends a masculine married friend to open negotia- 
tions with Lydia’s parents or nearest friends. 
The mattet is arranged between them, and all 
that the marrying ones can do is to manifest their 
likes or dislikes through the medium of their 


A RUSSIAN ELOPEMENT. 


253 


friends. Occasionally the latter conclude that it 
is not best for the match to be made, and so they 
manufacture a story, which is told to each client, 
that the other party is very obstinate, and will 
not listen to reason. Many a Russian ^irl has 
been proposed for and the proposal rejected, with- 
out her knowing that the offer has ever been 
made. 

Marie’s parents were favorable to the match, 
and consequently her reluctance was considered of 
little moment. Despite her tears, they settled 
upon the terms of the marriage, and appointed a 
day for the betrothal. In Russia the betrothal is 
an important ceremonial. It takes place in the 
presence of the family and friends of both parties, 
a priest assists, and when it is completed, it is 
very difficult to break the engagement. Marie 
knew that when once betrothed, she could have 
no hope of marrying Carl, save by breaking an 
obligation almost as binding as that of the church 
itself. 

Two or three weeks before the day fixed for the 
ceremony, she accompanied her brother to Ekat- 
erinburg to make a few purchases and visit some 
friends. One of the family servants went with 
them, and as Marie’s brother spent much time in 
carousals with some old acquaintances, the girl 
was generally in charge of the servant. 

One day she told her brother that she would go 
to visit a relative a few miles from town, 


254 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


and would probably spend a couple of nights 
there. He was glad enough to be rid of his 
charge, as it gave him opportunity to enjoy 
himself at cards and champagne. It was not until 
the third morning that he thought of looking for 
Marie, and drove to the relative’s house. She had 
not been there, and no trace could be found of her 
whereabouts. They applied to the postmaster to 
ascertain if she had visited the station, but he 
could not give them any information. Road- 
passes had been issued to several travelers in the 
past four da^^s, and to half a dozen parties 
answering the description of Marie and her serv- 
ant-man. As these parties were traveling in vari- 
ous directions, and the fugitives had three days’ 
start, it was not deemed wise to pursue them. 
The brother returned home, and carried unwel- 
come tidings which caused the betrothal and 
marriage to be indefinitely postponed. 

No one suspected that Carl had anything to do 
with the disappearance of Marie. He held his 
place as usual, but a few months after this inci- 
dent he received a letter, summoning him to 
return home on account of the death of his 
father. He went away under a promise to come 
back again, and to inform them if he should hap- 
pen to encounter or hear of Marie or Ivan in his 
journey. 

Of course he did hear of them, and somehow on 
reaching Moscow he found them domiciled in the 


A RUSSIAN ELOPEMENT. 


255 


house of a relative of Ivan’s, vrho had given up 
her best room to Marie, and was treating her 
with all consideration due her rank. He was not 
at all surprised to find that his father’s death 



would not call him home immediately, inasmuch 
as the old gentleman had been carried to the 
church yard about fifteen years before, leaving his 
affairs in a sad condition. A marriage was 
speedily arranged, though with some difficulty, 


256 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


and the loving couple became husband and wife. 
One obstacle to the marriage was the necessity for 
Carl to embrace the Greek Church, and renounce 
his own. He disliked to do this, but as the rule 
was imperative he could do no otherwise, and his 
love was triumphant over all things else. 

With the money which Marie brought away at 
the time of her flight, and the little in Carl’s pos- 
session the young couple had enough to support 
them for some time. Carl kept his promise to 
inform the Wymaneflfs that he had found Marie. 
He told them of the marriage, but prudently kept 
their residence a secret. The father, mother, 
brothers, and all other relatives of Marie were 
indignant, and Carl received a letter, announcing 
that neither of the twain would ever be forgiven. 
They had expected this, and before the letter came 
Carl had found employment as tutor in a private 
family, and was able with what Marie possessed 
to support himself and wife in comfort. 

So they lived year after year till ten years had 
passed away. At length Carl attracted the atten- 
tion of the emperor by a valuable paper he pre- 
pared on the resources and capabilities of Russia. 
The paper was so important that the emperor 
honored him with a patent of nobility, and gave 
him other marks of distinction. The order con- 
ferring the patent was published in the official 
journals, and naturally enough a copy reached the 
hands of Marie’s father, and was read aloud in 


A RUSSIAN ELOPEMENT. 


257 


the household. Not long after this Carl received a 
letter that was evidently written with a trembling 
hand, and contained but a few lines. It ran as 
follows : 

^‘My son-in-law is now a noble, and has been 
honored of his emperor. Marie may return home 
and bring her husband, the Count Neustein.” 

Rapidly they hastened to their old home in the 
Urals, where they found forgiveness for their run- 
away match. 


17 




CHASED BY MALAY PIRATES. 


OWN to quite recent years piracy 
was regarded as a reputable 
occupation among the inhabx 
itants of the numerous islands 
that form the Malay Archi- 
pelago, and it is not by any 
means out of fashion at the 
present time. A chief of a 
tribe, or an influential person- 
age who had no chieftainship to boast of, would 
announce his intention of forming a piratical 
association very much on the principle that gov- 
erns New England fishermen or whalers. The 
men engaging with him would receive no wages, 
but in lieu thereof would have an interest in the 
proceeds of the enterprise, or, as the Yankees call 
it, a ^‘lay.” Followers were easy to obtain, 
and when a sufflcient number were enrolled they 
accompanied the chief to the scene of operations, 
which was only known to himself. The chosen 
spot was on a bay or nook, near a channel through 
which foreign or native craft were compelled 

259 



260 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


to pass ill their voyages between eommereial 
points. The more seeluded the plaee the better it 
was for the purposes of the pirates. The entranee 
to it was eompletely eoneealed by overhanging 
trees, and was generally so narrow and shallow 
as to be barely sufficient for the passage of the 
light proa, the boat with which the pirates oper- 
ate. Watchmen were kept in the tree tops, and 
whenever a ship was descried the pirates made 
ready to attack her, if she was deemed a proper 
object of their ventures. 

A proa carries all the way from fifty to one hun- 
dred and fifty men, about half of them rowers and 
the rest detailed to the more perilous work of 
boarding. Calms are frequent in the waters of the 
Malay Archipelago, and it is during these calms 
that the pirates put in their best work. Sometimes 
a single proa is sufficient, but more frequently the 
pirate gang is embarked on two or more boats, 
especially when a foreign ship is to be attacked. 
Favored by the calm, they dart from their conceal- 
ment, row vigorously to the vessel which they 
hope to capture, and, unless the resistance is too 
much for them, they are soon in undisputed 
possession. The pirates are encumbered with very 
little clothes ; they climb like monkeys, and swarm 
over the bows of the ship with wonderful rapidity. 
Their principal weapon is the kriss, or dagger, and 
they are very expert in its use. They come in such 
numbers that any ordinary resistance is of little 


CHASED BY MALAY PIRATES. 


261 


avail when once they can bring their boats below 
the bows of a vessel. If they capture a European 
ship, the crew is slaughtered and flung overboard 
without ceremony. If their prize is a native one 
they are more forbearing, not from any tenderness 
of heart, but because the captives can be sold into 
slavery, and therefore are worth keeping alive. The 
prize is towed to the entrance of the pirates’ har- 
bor and into it if the depth of water will permit. 
She is stripped of everything of any value and 
then burned, except in the case of native craft, 
which are sometimes utilized to carry stolen 
goods to market. 

With the native vessels they were almost uni- 
formly successful in their attacks, as they were 
much more numerous than the crews, and the lat- 
ter had only the same kind of weapons as their 
assailants. But it was not always so with the 
foreign ships, as the crews of the latter were gen- 
erally well provided with firearms and literally 
fought for their lives. On one occasion the repulse 
of the pirates was due to the shrewdness of the 
wife of a missionary, a passenger on a brig from 
Australia to Java, and the story was told to me 
in Singapore about as follows : 

The brig was becalmed in one of the channels 
among the islands of the archipelago. She was 
lying almost motionless five miles from shore 
when a large proa was seen stealing out from 
under the cocoanut trees and making directly for 


262 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


her. The officers and crew of the brig numbered 
only nine persons altogether, and the only pas- 
sengers were the missionary and his wife. All the 
firearms on board were brought out, but it was 
readily seen that they would not be sufficient to 
resist the swarm of Malays that would cover the 
bows of the brig as soon as the proa reached her. 
The weapons were muzzle loading muskets of the 
old-fashioned kind. The crew could hardly hope 
to deliver more than a single volley before the 
pirates would rush aft and overpower them. 

The voyage had been long and the crew and pas- 
sengers were English ; they had consumed liberally 
of bottled beer, and the empty bottles were lying 
in barrels in one of the store rooms attached to 
the cabin. “ Bring up the bottles and break them 
over the deck,” said the missionary’s wife. The 
captain “caught on” to the suggestion, and very 
quickly the bottles were scattered and smashed, so 
that the deck was covered with broken glass from 
the very farthest point of the bows as far back as 
the entrance to the poop cabin. Everybody 
was heavily booted for the occasion, and therefore 
could walk around with little danger. The 
Malays go barefooted all their lives, and the glass 
promised to make a serious interference with 
their locomotion. Some pigs of lead were placed 
near the bows on either side. Two sailors were 
detailed to pitch these missiles into the proa when 
she came alongside, in the hope of smashing her 




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CHASED BY MALAY PIKATES. 


265 


frail bottom, and having done so they were to run 
aft and join the rest of the party of defenders. 

The pirates came on according to their usual 
custom and swarmed over the bows. Some of the 
foremost were brought down by the muskets in 
the hands of the brig’s people, but a great 
many more were levelled by the broken glass. 
One of the pigs of lead was well aimed and fell 
into the proa, smashing a hole that kept her 
occupants busy to save her from sinking. The 
pirates crowded on board with great rapidity; 
these behind pushed the foremost ahead, and 
none of them comprehended the new enemy they 
were dealing with until too late. The broken 
glass cut their feet and they fell to the deck ; and 
as they writhed and twisted about in their efforts 
to rise they were lacerated more and more. Not 
one of them got further aft than amidships, and 
all the forward part of the deck was literally cov- 
ered with wounded Malays. In five minutes it 
was plain to see that the assailants had the worst 
of it and the brig’s people would have things their 
own way. The fire of the muskets was directed 
to the leaking proa, which was thus compelled to 
retire to a safe distance; looking astern the cap- 
tain saw a breeze approaching, and very soon the 
sails of the brig filled and she began to forge 
ahead. 

The captain requested the missionary and his 
wife to retire to the cabin, promising to call them 


266 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


in case they were wanted, though he didn’t think 
their presence would be needed for any of the sub- 
sequent proceedings. The proa was soon left far 
astern, and then the crew were put to work to rid 
themselves of their uninvited and unwelcome visi- 
tors. “I did n’t want ’em to suffer with the pain of 
the salt water in their wounds,” said the captain 
afterward in telling the story, “and so I had each 
of ’em knoeked in the head with a handspike before 
he was flung overboard. Besides, I thought it 
was too good a tip for ’em to be telling the other 
pirates so that they’d wear shoes the next time 
they boarded an English ship.” 

A traveler who stopped at the hotel where I 
lodged at Singapore told me of an adventure in 
which he had a narrow escape : “I was on board 
a trading schooner from Ceram to Sourabaya, 
which had just touched at Celebes,” said he; 
“coming through the channel near the Tiger 
Islands and Shoals, we were becalmed and drifted 
with the current, which threatened to earry us 
ashore. 

“While we were deliberating whether to anchor 
to prevent getting further into difficulty we saw a 
proa come out from a little nook in the shore 
about four miles away. She had twenty oars on 
a side — forty rowers in all — and there must have 
been forty or fifty more men in her to do the fight- 
ing. We got out our firearms — in fact, they were all 
ready in the cabin, as we never knew when we 


CHASED BY MALAY PIRATES. 


267 


might want them — and prepared to give the fel- 
lows the best reception we could. Our crew was 
a light one for fighting, as we were only five white 
men all told and a dozen LavScars. The Lascars 
can’t be counted on for a fight and don’t even 
know how to handle a gun. The case was desper- 
ate, but we determined to make the best of it, 
since we fought for life. I could already feel the 
kriss of a Malay at my throat, and there wasn’t 
the least hope of escape if they overpowered us. 

“I had ^ repeating rifle which a friend 

brought me from America a few months 


before. I had tried it a 
few times and found it a 
good weapon at long range, 
and thought that now was 
an excellent time to 
^ test its utility. I got 
it all ready, selected a 
good position, and when 
I judged the proa was 
fairly within range I fired 
and brought down the 
fellow who was steering 
her. As he fell he carried 
the helm over so that the 
I proa came broadside on to us, and I 
embraced the chance to the best of my 



268 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


abilities. At the second shot I brought down the 
juragan or captain, and at the third I fetched the 
fellow who was taking the place of the slain or 
wounded steersman. Next I attended to the man 
who was rowing stroke, and his fall confused 
the crew generally. I never knew I was so good 
a marksman; I had done some fair shooting in 
my time, but was. so long out of practice that I 
feared for the result. It must have been that the 
great peril we would have been in if the proa 
had got under our bow steadied my nerves and 
made every shot tell. 

“The fellows were all shouting at once, and the 
confusion among them was so great that they 
almost came to a standstill. This gave a chance 
for the other rifles, which were in good hands — or 
at least two of them were. One of them was made 
for crocodile hunting and fired explosive bullets. It 
was in the hands of the mate, and he managed to 
put one of thovse bullets where it would do the most 
good. It bored the proa just at the water line, 
and I think it must have damaged some of the 
Malay legs, as it exploded at the moment of strik- 
ing and scattered its fragments about. I emptied 
the magazine of my rifle, and as soon as I could 
charge it again its operations were renewed. 

“Inside of ten minutes from the firing of the 
first shot the proa was paddling away from 
us, and wasn’t paddling with anything like 
the gayety of its approach. We were afraid 


CHASED BY MALAY PIRATES. 


269 


the pirates would come back with re-enforcements, 
but before they reached land we caught a breeze 
from the southward, and in a little while had left 
the island hull down in the distance. It was the 
closest shave I ever had among the pirates of the 
archipelago, and it was the American rifle that 
saved us.” 



AN EXILE’S ESCAPE FROM SIBERIA. 


ROM the time of Peter the 
Great, Siberia has been the 
place of exile for those 
Russians who violate the 
laws of their country, or 
otherwise incur the dis- 
pleasure of the emperor 
and his officials. Men and 
women are sent there for 
all sorts of crimes, and sometimes for no crimes at 
all, and their sentences vary from simple banish- 
ment for two or three years up to hard labor 
for life. 

Some are condemned to labor in mines, others 
are employed upon roads or other public works ; 
some become colonists, and must support them- • 
selves by farming or other out-door occupations, 
and others may do pretty nearly anything they 
choose, except to go out of the country. In ordi> 
nary times about ten thousand exiles are vsent over 
the Ural mountains, and distributed through that 
enormous area known as Asiatic Russia. 

271 



272 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


Every revolution in Poland makes a great 
increase in the number of banished unfortunates; 
in some years more than twenty thousand Poles 
have been transported to Siberia, in consequence 
of their active or suspected efforts to secure the 
independence of their native land from Russian 
rule. 

It is a very difficult matter for an* exile to get 
out of Siberia without permission. The distances 
are great, the country is thinly settled, the roads 
are few, and the soldiers and police are very 
watchful. All the roads are carefully guarded, 
and nobody can travel without a passport. 

There is said to be a road, or rather a path, 
through Siberia known only to the exiles. It 
avoids all the regular lines of travel, and keeps 
away from the towns and villages; it winds 
over plains and among the mountains, through 
forests and along the banks of rivers, and is 
marked by notches cut in the trees, or by little 
mounds of earth and stones. 

This secret road is nearly two thousand miles 
long, and can only be traveled on foot. Those 
who follow it must endure great hardships, and 
the man who told me about it said that more 
than half the exiles who tried to escape by it 
were never heard of afterward. They perish of 
cold or starvation, or perhaps they venture near 
the villages in search of food, and are caught by 
the police. The peasants of Siberia are generally 


THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA. 


193 


there were towers about fifty feet high, intended 
for watehmen and soldiers; the wall follows the 
irregularities of the eountry, over hills and 
through valleys, erossing rivers by magnifieent 
archways, and running straight as a sunbeam on 
the level plain. It is now sadly out of repair, was 
never any use as a defense, but must be set down 
as one of the wonders of the world. 



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A CORROBOREE IN AUSTRALIA. 



^HEN Australia was discovered, 


there was a consid- 
erable population of 
natives scattered 


\ along the coast and 

•yL .1 ^ it • j 


A through the inte- 
>^^rior; their numbers 
were variously esti- 


\ ' mated, but whatever 


they may have been they were far in excess of the 
aboriginal population of the country at the present 
day. Like aboriginal people everywhere, they 
have suffered greatly by contact with civilization, 
especially by the use of ardent spirits, of which 
they are very fond. At present there are not 
more than forty thousand of them altogether. In 
the days of Captain Cook they were doubtless 
more than a hundred thousand, and possibly 
double that figure. Their numbers are diminishing 
yearly, and in course of no very long time they 
will follow the fate of the aboriginals of Tasmania, 


195 


196 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


and disappear altogether from the face of the 
earth. 

These people are black, though not so much 
so as the negro, and their hair is curly, but 
not crisp and woolly. Among the Australians 
they are always mentioned as “blacks” or “abor 
riginals,” but never as “natives.” A “native” 
Australian is a white person born in the country, 
of parents who are either “natives” or emi- 
grants from other parts of the world. The colo- 
nial governments have tried to civilize the blacks, 
but have not been very successful in the work. 
Some of the blacks have been employed as shep- 
herds and in other work for white men, but their 
love for strong drink is so great that nearly all 
who associate with white men become drunkards, 
and spend their money for rum as fast as they 
earn anything. At one time the government of 
New South Wales had a police force of blacks com- 
manded by white officers. They were very useful 
in following thieves and others whom the authori- 
ties wished to capture, as they can discover and 
follow a trail when it is quite invisible to a white 
man. 

One of their religious beliefs is that a white man 
is the reanimated soul of a black man. When one 
of them dies, he is buried on the spot where the 
breath left his body, and the place is never after- 
ward visited by any of them. The name of the 
dead man is never mentioned, and anybody who 


A CORROBOREE IN AUSTRALIA. 


197 


bears a similar name must change it to something 
else. Their belief in regard to the spirit of a black 
man going into the body of a white one once saved 
che life of a runaway convict, and made him chief 
of a tribe. Here is his story, which is literall}^ 
true: 

When the convict settlements were established in 
Australia, the natives were friendly for a time, but 
after awhile quarrels arose, and the blacks began 
killing every white man who went among them, 
with here and there an exception. In spite of this 
danger, convicts used to run away to the interior, 
and take their chances, rather than submit to the 
cruelty of their masters. Most of them were 
never heard of after they disappeared in the bush. 

One of these runaways had wandered for days 
without food, and was about ready to lie down 
and die, when he came to a newly made mound, 
on which a few pieces of meat had been scattered. 
He eagerly seized the morsels and devoured them, 
thus gaining new strength to enable him to con- 
tinue his journey. A staff like a long walking- 
cane was sticking in the mound, and this he took 
as a support while walking. Seeing a path like a 
a trail leading into the forest, he followed it, in 
the hope that it might take him to the hut where 
possibly one of his fellow-runaways lived. 

After walking a few miles he came suddenly 
upon an encampment of blacks; he would have 
retreated and concealed himself, as he knew the 


198 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


murderous instincts of these people, but it was 
too late for him to do so, as the}^ had already dis- 
covered him, and were rushing forward with their 
spears and other weapons. 

The foremost of the men raised their weapons to 
strike him down, and he thought his last hour 



THE FOREMOST OF THE MEN RAISED THEIR WEAPONS TO STRIKE. 


had come. Suddenly they lowered their spears, 
consulted with each other, and then came forward 
and received him with the greatest respect. What 
could it all mean ? 

He made signs that he was hungry, and they 
immediately supplied him with food. They pre- 


A CORROBOREE IN AUSTRALIA. 


199 


pared a shelter for him, tended him with the 
greatest eare, and in a few days he was as well 
and strong as ever. He was treated as their 
chief, and remained with them for a good many 
years; he gradually learned their language, and, 
in the course of time, discovered to what he owed 
his good fortune. 

It seems that the mound where he fell down 
exhausted was the grave of their chief who had 
just died. The stick that he found in the mound 
and took to assist him in walking, was the staff 
which the chief had carried for years, as the badge 
of his office. When the runaway convict appeared 
with this staff in his hand he was taken at once as 
the resurrected chief, in accordance with the belief 
already mentioned, which the natives express 
with the words: “Die black fellow, jump up 
white fellow.” 

The man had the good sense to rule the tribe so 
that it was not likely to suspect anything wrong 
about their peculiar belief as to the manner of the 
return of their chief. He taught them various 
things that were useful, and showed how they 
could make war upon their neighbors more suc- 
cessfully than they hacj done before. At that time 
the tribes were generally at war with each other, 
which was a very fortunate thing for the white 
settlers. If the blacks had combined against the 
strangers the latter would have had a very hard 
time of it. 


200 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


I have heard an interesting story of an expe- 
rience with the Australian blacks which I will 
endeavor to give, as nearly as possible, in the 
words of the narrator. 

I was in the service of the company that built 
the telegraph line across Australia from Adelaide 
to Port Darwin, and after the line was completed 
I had charge of one of the interior stations. The 
blacks gave us some trouble, but not much while 
we were building the line ; the fact was that the 
construction parties were sufficiently large to give 
them a warm reception, in case of an attack, and 
they prudently let us alone. They used to come 
around where we were at work, and one day the 
principal man among them walked for an hour or 
two along the line, making a critical examination 
of the posts and wires, and pacing the distance 
between the posts. 

Then he strode up to me and said, with an 
accent of insolence : 

“Me think white fellow one big fool.’’ 

When I tried to find out his reason for express- 
ing contempt for us in this way, he pointed to the 
telegraph line and said : 

“That piece of fence never stop cattle.” 

Before I could explain what the supposed fence 
was really intended for, he walked off with his 
nose very much in the air, and I never saw him 
again to my knowledge. 


A CORROBOREE IN AUSTRALIA. 


201 


Life at the telegraph station was very lonely, as 
there were no settlers for many miles, and we 



side; and, furthermore, we thought that if they 
were once allowed an entrance it would be difficult 
to keep them out afterward. 

Things went on without trouble for several 
months, until the blacks had a corroboree in a 
little patch of forest, about a mile from the sta- 
tion. Perhaps you don’t know what a corrob- 
oree is ? 

Well, it’s a wild sort of dance, something like 
the dances among your American Indians, with 
local variations to suit the climate and people. 
The dancing is done by the men, who get them- 
selves up in the most fantastic manner imaginable 
with paint of various colors. They daub their 


202 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


faces in streaks and patches, and trace their riBs 
with white paint, so that they seem to have taken 
up lodgings on the outside of the bodies they 
belong to instead of the inside. Sometimes they 
are entirely naked, excepting the paint, and at 
others they wear strips of opossum skin around 
their waists and feathers in their hair. There are 
certain dances in which all the men and women of 
a tribe may join, and others where several tribes 
participate. These last dances are very apt to 
end in a hght, as the dancers work themselves into 
a condition of frenzy, in which the combative 
spirit is likely to display itself. 

At the corroboree I have referred to, there were 
men from several tribes, and consequently we 
feared mischief. The principal building of the 
station was a strong block-house, and we made 
preparations to defend it vigorously in case of 
attack. We had half a dozen blacks in our serv- 
ice; the}^ came from a tribe in another part of 
Australia, and as the wild blacks have a great 
hostility for any people of their color who go into 
the service of the white man, there was no danger 
of their deserting us. They would have been 
killed instantly if they had ventured near the cor- 
roboree, and therefore were inclined to vStick very 
close to the block-houvse. 

Two of our black retainers went as near as they 
dared to the scene of the dance, and it was under- 
stood that they were to run home and give the 


A CORROBOREE IN AUSTRALIA. 


203 


signal in case the dancers showed signs of moving 
in our direction. The dance began a little after 
sunset, and in the still night air we could distinctly 
hear the shouting of the blacks and the sound of 
their drums, as time was kept for their move- 
ments. 

About midnight it seemed that the sounds were 
coming nearer to us, and very soon our sentinels 
came in breathless, and said the corroboree was 
breaking up, and the block- 
house was to be attacked. 

We got our rifles and re- 
volvers ready and stood to 
our posts. Mrs. Chatham 
could handle a rifle or pistol 
as well as any of us and 
signified her intention of 
doing her share of the 
work. We determined 
to shed no blood unless 
it should be abso- 
lutely necessary, as 
we were anxious 
to be on friendly 
terms with our 
black neighbors. 

The station was in 
the center of a 
ing, so that no one 
could approach it without being seen. In a little 



204 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


while we saw in the moonlight a mass of dark 
figures crossing the open space to the south, 
and, judging by the ground they covered, there 
were at least a hundred of them. They advanced 
quietly about half-way across the clearing, and 
then came forward at a run, while they filled the 
air with yells. 

They were armed with spears and boomerangs, 
and as soon as they came within reach of the 
building they flung their spears at it — a very fool- 
ish performance, as the weapons could do no harm 
against the thick sides of the structure. We made 
no indication of our presence, and this emboldened 
the fellows so that they rushed up close to the 
building and began to dance in front of it, all the 
time keeping up their frightful yells. 

Bring me a rocket,” I said to Chatham, who 
was nearest to me. 

He brought me the rocket, and I fixed it so 
that it would go just above the heads of the 
crowd of yelling blacks. Then I touched a match 
to the fuse, and away the rocket sailed through 
the air. 

The fellows had never seen anything of the 
kind before, and to say they were taken by sur- 
prise is to express it very mildty. They could 
not have been more astonished if the moon had 
fallen among them, and with one yell more 
unearthly than all the others that preceded it, 
they fled to the forest with the speed of a drove 




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A CORROBOREE IN AUSTRALIA. 


207 


of frightened antelopes. They ran for miles, not 
even daring to stop at the place where their 
corroboree was held. 

We saved the station and ourselves without 
shedding a drop of blood. It was reported far 
and wide that we had “shot a star” at them, 
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ORIENTAL THIEVES. 


289 


the man, and jour servant can remain undis- 
turbed in his place.” 

“Thank you,” said the captain. “I should regret 
losing him. Suppose we take a peg to better 
acquaintance? ” 

A “peg” in the Anglo-Indian vocabulary means 
brandy and soda, and the polite invitation could 
not be refused, as the sun was waxing hot. And 
while we were engaged in the deglutition of the 
twin pegs in the bar-room of the Esplanade Hotel 
the captain hinted that it was ver}^ fortunate for 
me I did not overtake the robber. “He would 
have put a knife into you without the least hesita- 
tion,” he continued; “and these fellows are very 
skillful with that weapon when their safety depends 
upon its use. Next time you find one of them in 
your room don’t do anything more than frighten 
him, and if you pretend to follow, give him plenty 
of chance to get away. You can thus save your 
reputation without a risk of harm, as he ’ll make 
the best possible use of his heels and you could 
catch a monkey about as readily.” 

I accepted his advice and determined to follow 
it, but did not have any subsequent occasion for 
putting it into practice. 

The captain told of some of the exploits of the 
native thieves, and assured me he was speaking 
the words of truth and soberness. I am certain of 
the latter, as it was his first drink that day. 
“You may have heard,” he s^^id, “that an Indian 

19 


290 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


thief will steal the sheet from under a sleeping 
man without waking him. The story sounds 
ridieulous, but I know it’s true as I lost five 
pounds on a bet that it eouldn’t be done, soon 
after I eame to India. I made the bet with the 
senior eaptain of my regiment, and the only stipu- 
lation was that I should not harm the thief in 
ease of waking suddenly while he was at work. 

“The sheet on whieh I slept was marked so 
that it eould be positively identified. Before going 
to bed I examined it earefullj^ and on getting up 
in the morning saw the sheet was still there. I 
smiled triumphantly, and already felt the five- 
pound note in my fingers, when there was a rap 
on the door. Opening it, I reeeived a bundle from 
the hands of my senior’s servant, and opening the 
bundle, I found the marked sheet. Then I looked 
at the bed and found another sheet. My bet of five 
pounds was lost. 

“We breakfasted at the mess, and as I paid the 
wager I begged an explanation of the triek, avow- 
ing that the knowledge would be worth the 
mone3^ The senior readily told me, and sinee 
then I ’ve more than made myself even b}" making 
the same bet with newh" arrived subs. 

“This is the way it is done. In summer in this 
hot elimate you never have any eovering besides 
your pajamas, or sleeping dress. You lie on the 
sheet, whieh is spread on the mattress, and take 
any position 3^ou ehoose. Mosquitoes are abun- 


ORIENTAL THIEVES. 


291 


dant, and the buzzing of these pests is too frequent 
to be noticed. The thief comes to your bedside 



armed only with a feather. He imitates the buz- 
zing of a mosquito, and at the same time tickles 
you with the feather until you turn to one side of 
the bed, but without waking. When 3^ou are 
be^^ond the middle of the bed he gently rolls the 
sheet until it is close to you, and then he goes to 
the other side of your couch and with buzz and 
feather at length causes you to turn the other 
way. When you have rolled ^^ourself clear of the 
sheet he gathers it up, and if he is on a real plun- 
dering expedition he is off at once. But when he 
makes a bet with our friends we generally have 
another sheet put in the place of the stolen one, 


292 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


which is done by a continuance of the process I ’ve 
described. 

“Suppose you have a white or gray horse. A 
thief will steal it, and a few days later a roan or 
bay horse will be offered 3^011 by a dealer who has 
heard of your loss. Perhaps you buy *the animal, 
and set your syce to scrtdDbing him. Out comes 
the color, and you discover that 3^011 have bought 
the property which was appropriated from you, 
and has been skillfully d3'ed. The horse may be 
stolen while the syce is asleep at his side. Two 
men work together in horse stealing, and, while 
one imitates the action of the animal in pulling 
the halter and stamping on the ground, the other 
leads away the prize. I need not say that the 
work is performed b3^ men who have had a good 
deal of experience around horses, and in nine 
cases out of ten thev are syces or grooms out of 
employment. Before starting on their expeditions 
they grease themselves from head to foot, so that 
in case the3^ are seized they cannot be held. You 
have a proverb which says ‘slippery as an eel.’ It 
applies admirabl3^ to East India horse thieves. 

“There is a story of an officer who used to put 
his writing-desk under his pillow. It contained 
his papers and money, and he felt sure it could not 
be taken without waking him. One morning it 
was gone, and he had not been disturbed. He 
offered ten rupees to any one who would tell how 



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THli BODY WAS HEADLESS.” 


ORIENTAL THIEVES. 


295 


the trick was performed, and it was explained to 
him. The thieves had observed his care for the 
box, and concluded it was worth stealing. They 
crept silently to his bedside, and one of them 
slipped his hand under the pillow and held up the 
officer’s head until his confederate had removed 
the desk. Then the head of the sleeper was 
allowed to go down so gently that he was not 
awakened. 

“They rob houses by tunneling under the walls 
or making holes through them large enough to 
admit one of the robbers, who passes the plunder 
outside to his confederates. These fellows work 
in gangs that are held together by fearful oaths, 
and they rarely betray each other. One night a 
gentleman near Madras heard some robbers 
digging a tunnel under his house, and sat down 
to meet them. An opening was made, and a man 
came through. As he saw the owner he dived into 
the hole and tried to escape, but the gentleman 
was too quick for him. He seized the fellow’s legs 
and held on in spite of the grease. The man’s 
comrades pulled at his head and shoulders, but to 
no purpose, and finally they ran away and left 
him to be drawn inside by the gentleman, who 
discovered that his prisoner was headless. Fear- 
ful of his identification, or that he might turn 
state’s evidence to save himself, they had cut off 
his head and carried it away with them. One 


29(5 


THE TALKING HANGKERCHIEE. 


might in the words of the old woman in Scot- 
land who was telling how the chief of her clan 
was beheaded, ‘It was nae mootch of an head, to 
be sure, Imt ’twas a sair loss to the puir mon.’ 
But I must be off to the barracks at Colaba. 
Good-morning.” 

And so we separated. 





A CHEMICAL DETECTIVE. 


I N the year 18 — , it came to the knowl- 
edge of the treasury department of the 
United States that large quantities of 
French brandy were entering the 
country without paying duties. The 
sales of that ardent spirit were known 
to be considerably in excess of the 
amount entered at the custom house, and though 
the greatest vigilance was shown by the 
inspectors and all others employed by the depart- 
ment, the illicit importation continued without 
abatement. It was evident that the smugglers 
were making use of extraordinary methods in 
conducting their enterprise, and consequently it 
would require extraordinary skill to detect and 

punish them. The case was assigned to 

Roberts, one of the best men then connected with 
the secret service of the treasury, and he was told 
to Spare no effort or expense in bringing the fraud 
to light. 

I will tell the story of Roberts as nearly as pos- 
sible in his own words : 


298 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


“When the affair was placed in my hands, I had 
absolutely no clue to begin u])on, except the belief 
that the fraudulent importation was through the 
port of New York. This was easy enough to 
believe since most of the importations of brandy 
were through that cit}^ ; in fact, a good half of the 
foreign importations of all kinds come to the com- 
mercial and financial metropolis of the country, so 
that this wasn’t really a clue, after all. 

“A careful inspection had been made for months 
of all vessels arriving from French ports, but no 
irregularity of any consequence had been dis- 
covered. Occasionally the* employes of the ships 
and steamers were detected in attempts to smug- 
gle a few bottles of brandy or other liquors, but 
the aggregate of all that they could bring ashore, 
in this wa}', would not be a hundredth, or even a 
thousandth, of the quantity that we were trying 
to discover. Plainly" these were not the smugglers 
that we sought; and after a very brief stud}" of 
the situation, I dropped them altogether. The 
inspectors were instructed to maintain their 
vigilance and report any circumstance that was in 
any way suspicious. 

“All efforts to discover smuggled brandy in the 
possession of any house dealing in spirituous 
liquors at wholesale were futile. Now and then I 
thought I had ‘struck a lead,’ but each time that 
my hopes were raised they were doomed to disap- 
pointment. No wholesale dealer was found to 


A CHEMICAL DETECTIVE. 


299 


have any of the contraband article on hand ; each 
and all of them could show that his stock had 
been properly entered at the customs house, and 
paid the usual duties, or he had bought it of an 
importer whose reputation was above suspicion. 

“In the secret service branch of the customs 
department we had several Frenchmen, and you 
may be sure I utilized these men in every way that 
occurred to me. I sent them to Havre, Bordeaux 
and other French ports, with orders to make the 
most of their opportunities, and stimulated them 
with the promise of a large reward in case of suc- 
cess. One by one they returned, generally as 
stewards or sailors on the steamers, but in every 
instance they brought nothing. They gave a 
minute account of everything they had seen, heard 
or done during their absence, but all to no pur- 
pose. One of them had been so hardly used on the 
voyage that he required, and was granted, a 
month’s absence for the purpose of recuperation. 
Another had made love to a stewardess, under the 
impression that she knew the secret for which we 
were seeking, and had promised to marry her on 
their return to the soil of sunny France. It is 
hardly necessary to say that he did not accom- 
pany the vessel on the return voyage, and was, no 
doubt, soundly execrated for the fickle nature of 
his passion. 

“One evening, I was sitting alone in my room, 
occupied with a cigar and a train of thoughts. I 


SOO 


THE TALKINC^ HAKDKERCHIeE. 


am a confirmed smoker and usually give proper 
attention to my cigar ; but on this occasion the 
train of thoughts had by far the most prominent 
place in my mind. Three times the cigar went out 
and needed relighting; once, in relighting it, I 



started to do so at the wrong end, and, after 
getting it properly going, and settling in my chair 
again, I surprised myself by putting the ‘fire end’ 
i 



A CHEMICAL DETECTIVE. 


301 


in my mouth and receiving a severe burn on the 
end of my tongue. To allay the pain of the burn 
I took a sip of brandy ; it is proper to remark that 
soon after starting on this quest I abandoned my 
customary beverages and adopted brandy in 
preference to all others, actuated by the theory of 
the amateur actor who blacked himself all over in 
his effort to give a proper rendition of the char- 
acter of Othello. 

“As I held the brandy in my mouth, it occurred 
to me that it was the very article to give me a 
clue to the smugglers. At all events, I had sought 
the clue elsewhere, and all efforts had failed. 

“Next day, I sent all over New York and 
Brooklyn, and bought brandy enough to intoxi- 
cate a regiment of men with several bottles to 
spare. No two bottles were bought at the same 
place, and each was carefully labeled to indicate 
the dealer who supplied it. Nearly all the pur- 
chases were made at wholesale houses and in the 
best groceries, little attention being paid to the 
small grocery or the ordinary bar-room. There 
was good reason for these last-named omissions, 
as the eight thousand bar-rooms of New York, to 
say nothing of those in Brooklyn, would have 
necessitated an outlay that my liberal allowance 
for expenses could not possibly cover. 

“I had a young acquaintance, who was an 
expert chemist, and on the watch for something 


302 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


to do. I invited him to come to my lodgings and 
inspect my stock of liquors. 

“ ‘What in the world are you going to do with 
so much brandy ? ’ said he, as he looked at my 
collection. ‘You’ll drink yourself into your grave 
within six months.’ 

“ ‘Nothing of the kind ! I’ve got that for you.’ 

“‘Ever so much obliged, Roberts,’ replied 
Burton, for that was his name; ‘but I don’t want 
such a stock as that. I’ll take half a dozen bottles 
for my own use and send another half-dozen to 
my mother, who always likes to have some good 
brandy in the house for “medicinal purposes.” It 
will last as many years as there are bottles, now 
that the boys have all left home.’ 

“He proceeded to make his selection, but I 
stopped him at once. 

“‘Look here, Burton,’ said I, ‘this thing means 
business, and I’ll come straight to the point. Sit 
down and take a cigar, while I light one to keep 
you company.’ 

“‘This is on the dead quiet,’ I continued; ‘and 
before we go a step further I want your word of 
honor to keep everything secret.’ 

“He gave it off-hand, and then I unfolded the 
whole story, as far as I could. 

“‘That’s all I can tell you,’ said I, ‘and more’s 
the pity. I’ve an idea that the clue to the 
m^’stery is somewhere in that brandy, in some of 
those bottles, and I want you to use your knowl- 


A CHEMICAL DETECTIVE. 


303 


edge of chemistry to find it. You’ll get a big 
reward if you do; at any rate, I shall have a 
handsome moiety on the transaction if I run the 
smugglers to earth and catch them where I want 
to, and you may trust me to make a fair divi- 
sion.’ 

“ ‘ I ’ll trust you,’ replied Burton, ‘ and I ’ll go at 
the work to-morrow morning. If the clue is 
there, I ’ll have it, you ma}^ depend. Fact is, I ’m 
engaged to be married next month; the girl is just 
as poor as I am, and I ’ve been wondering what 
kind of a start in life we are likely to make. We’re 
“two souls with but a single thought,’’ and little 
else than the thought, as we haven’t fifty dollars 
between us. I ’ll go in all I can for a share in 
your moiety in this job, and, as they say in Cali- 
fornia, do my “level best.’” 

“I advanced him the few dollars he needed for 
the purchase of certain chemicals, and he went to 
work on the brandy, bright and earl}^ on the fol- 
lowing day. When I came home he said he had 
discovered nothing, and was just off to see his girl 
to tell her the good news that he had something 
to do. ‘Of course, I won’t say anything about 
what I’m doing,’ said he, ‘as that would be a 
violation of my promise. Besides, she doesn’t 
know anything about chemistry, though she ’s the 
sweetest girl that ever lived.’ 

“The next day and the next the result was the 
same, and I began to despair. He gave me the 


304 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


composition of several different sorts of brandy, 
and convinced me that the consumption of that 
article would greatly diminish if the drinkers 
thereof knew what they were swallowing. But 
this isn’t the place for a temperance lecture, not 
even for an ‘awful example.’ 

“The third day, when I went to my lodgings. 
Burton had something to communicate. I didn’t 
think much of it at first, but, in a few minutes, I 
saw a light ahead. And the more I thought it 
over the more certain I was that we had ‘ struck 
a lead.’ By next morning I was so sure of it that 
I told Burton he might say to his fiancee that 
his prospects were very good for a handsome 
windfall about the time vset for their wedding. 

“And what do you suppose was this discovery? 

“He found a trace of iron, just a trace, and no 
more, in some of the brandy. Then he had fol- 
lowed up this diseovery by testing only for iron, 
and dropping everything else. Out of some forty 
or fifty bottles that he examined, he had found 
seven with this iron trace, thus indicating that the 
supply of as man}^ different establishments came 
from the same source. 

“The stills used in the manufacture of brandy 
are of copper; there isn’t any iron whatever in 
pure or even ordinary brandy, and nobody ever 
heard a confirmed brandy-drinker spoken of as a 
man of iron eonstitution. Brandy is kept or 
transported in wood or in glass, and not in casks 


A CHEMICAL DETECTIVE. 


305 


of iron. As I thought over the subject, I made up 
my mind that the specimens which Burton had 
set aside were imported in that cheap and useful 
metal. 

“‘I’ve got the fellow now,’ I said to myself 
‘ Some of the officers on the steamers coming from 
France are in the habit of filling their spare water- 
tanks with brandy, and getting it ashore surrep- 
titiously while lying at the docks on this side. I ’ll 
follow up this lead and find out how the work is 
done.’ 

“I followed it up, but not with the result I 
expected. Every water-tank on every steamer 
was examined on one pretext or another, as soon 
as a vessel entered port, but it was soon found 
that if they contained no water, the tanks were 
invariably empty. One contained a cat and her 
brood of kittens; it was a spare tank, and the 
cover of the manhole had been removed to give 
the feline mother free ingress and egress. Another 
spare tank was used for the storage of vegeta- 
bles, and another yielded a few dutiable articles 
belonging to one of the engineers, but not worth 
twenty dollars altogether. 

“I felt convinced, however, that I was on the 
right track, although the scent was just then false. 
The result proved that I was correct. 

“Among the steamers then coming to port with 
reasonable regularity were two French vessels 
which I will call the Minerve and Junon. They 


306 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


were of the class known as 
‘tramps,’ that is, they be- 
longed to no established line, 
but professed to go, as the 
tramjD steamer usually goes, 
wherever the best freights 
offered. Freights had been 
good down to some little time 
before, and there had conse- 
quently been a plentiful 
supply of tramps. But 
for the last three or four 
months there had been a ver}" 
hard time for steamers ; hardly 
any of the regular lines were 
earning anything, and very 
few tramps were coming to 
New York. It struck me as a 
little singidar that the Mi- 
nerve and Junon continued to 
ply between New York and 
their home port, when better 
freights were offering from 
Europe to South America and 
Asia. 

“I went to the custom 
house and examined their 
manifests, and another singular circumstance 
presented itself The steamers carried very small 
cargoes, according to the showing of their mani- 



A CHEMICAL DETECTIVE. 


307 


fests, and when their tonnage and the expense of 
crews and coal were taken into consideration, it 
was hardly possible for them to make running ex- 
penses, let alone a profit to the owners and an 
interest on the investment. 

The Minerve was taking in freight, and was 
nearly ready to sail. The customs officials pay 
ver\' little attention to a ship after her incoming 
cargo has been landed, and, therefore, I could not 
examine the Minerve closely without exciting sus- 
picion. But I sent one of the French attaches of 
of our service (the one who broke his matrimonial 
engagement) to offer himself as a distressed Gaul 
willing to work his passage to his native land. 
The Minerve was short-handed, and he readily 
obtained a place on board. Two weeks or so 
after the Minerve’s departure, the Junon arrived 
and went to the berth recently occupied by her 
consort. Somehow they always obtained the 
same berth, which was vsecured in advance by the 
agent on receipt of a cable message announcing 
the sailing from the other side. 

“Thejunon’s manifest was sent to the custom 
house, in accordance with the regulations, and 
again there was a remarkably small cargo, consid- 
ering her dimensions. I did not dare make a 
move until receiving word from Jacques, the man I 
had shipped on the Minerve. She had been reported 
by telegraph, and I was in hourly expectation of a 


308 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


cablegram from him, but day after day passed, 
and nothing came. 

‘“Have they found him out, and dropped him 
overboard?’ I wondered. ‘Nobody knows better 
than a Frenchman that dead men tell no tales, 
and I’m afraid Jacques is at the bottom of the sea.’ 

“A vigilant watch was maintained by the 
inspectors of the Junon, but they saw nothing 
out of the ordinary run of things. I was in a 
state of feverish excitement, when one day I 
received the long-looked-for message from Jacques, 
partly in cipher and partly in plain language, 
though it wasn’t plain enough for anybody but 
myself to understand. It was a very long mes- 
sage — two hundred words and more. 

“I took it to my room, locked the door, and 
then sat down to decipher the communication. 
When I reached the last word, and the whole mes- 
sage lay before me, I kicked over the table, danced 
a hornpipe among the chairs, and was thus 
engaged, when Burton, after rapping three times, 
shouted to ask if I had suddenly lost my senses. 
Well, the fact was, I had been a good deal daft for 
the last quarter of an hour. 

“Next morning I put on my worst suit of 
clothes and went on a fishing excursion, and you 
won’t be surprised to know that the ground I 
selected was the dock where the Junon was lying. 
I strolled on board the vessel and looked through 
her, and then fished very patiently over the side of 


A CHEMICAL DETECTIVE. 


309 


the deck, for an hour or more, without getting a 
bite. About that time a boat, with a very shabby 
boatman (it was Burton in disguise), happened 


along. The boat 
each other for a 
chaff ended in my 
me to * 


man and I chaffed 
while, and our 
hiring him to take 
where he said the 
could be found. As 
I got down from the 
pier, he awkwardly per- 
mitted the boat to drift 
beneath it, but no one observed 
this very ordinary circum- 
stance. 

In ten or fifteen min- 
utes we were out again from 
under the pier and 
rowing away to 
the fishing- 
ground. But 


we con- 
cluded to give 
up fishing 
when we 
and I was 
‘ ‘ Stop 
the 
him 
him to 


were two or three piers away, 
put on shore. 

ping on the way to telegraph to 
collector that I wanted to see 
on important business, and asking 
admit me immediately on the 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 




annouHcement of my name, I made the best of my 
way to the custom house. 

“I told my story of the iron in the brandy, 
showed the message from Jacques, and gave the 
result of the fishing excursion. Then we talked 
the matter over for a little while, and it was con- 



FINDING THE HOSE. 


eluded to send word to the agent and the con- 
signee of the Junon to meet us on board that ves- 
sel, and also invite the principal man of a general 
commission house opposite the head of the pier 
where the Junon lay. 

“The meeting was a memorable one for most of 
the members of that party. The collector allowed 
me to do the talking, which was about in this 
wise: 

“‘Gentlemen, a fraud has been perpetrated on 
the revenues of the United States, and the evidence 


A CHEMICAL DETECTIVE. 


311 


points to your guilt in the matter. The Jtinon 
and Minerve have been bringing large quantities 
of brandy to this port. These vessels were eon- 
structed — at any rate, that was the pretense — for 
carrying petroleum in bulk from Batoum, on the 
Black sea, to ports in Asia. Each vessel has a 
large tank forward of her engines for that pur- 
pose, and the rest of her space is for ordinary 
cargo. Neither of them ever went to Batoum, or 
ever carried petroleum in bulk, but they have both 
been running from France to New York.’ 

“‘What’s that got to do with smuggling 
brandy ? ’ queried the agent, with an independent 
air. 

“‘It has just this to do with it,’ I answered: 
‘The petroleum tanks are filled with brandy on the 
other side and emptied here. By means of a 
so-called gas-pipe running underground from a 
warehouse to the dock where she lies, and a flex- 
ible hose that is brought on board through an 
opening in the side of the vessel below the water- 
line, the brandy can be run into the tank with 
very little risk of discovery. You have a similar 
arrangement here, and I have to-day examined the 
connection of the shore-pipe with the hose; it is 
close to the third pile, counting from this side, and 
the fifteenth from the head of the pier. Here is a 
bit of the wrapping of the hose I cut off two hours 
ago. There is sufficient “slack” to the hose to 
prevent its being seen in this turbid water.’ 


312 


THE TAEKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


“My auditors were no longer defiant. The air 
of ‘What are you going to do about it?’ disap- 
peared from the agent’s face, and it became ashy 
pale. The faces of his friends were equally color- 
less. 

“ ‘The brandy,’ I continued, ‘is run on board by 
gravity, but to get it ashore requires the opera- 
tion of a pump, or rather of two pumps. There is 
a suction-pump in the warehouse yonder, and a 
force pump in the captain’s cabin ; the latter is 
for driving air into the tank and keeping up a 
steady pressure as the liquor is withdrawn.’ 

“I paused, and everybody was .silent. We 
might not have heard the fall of a pin, but what 
we did hear was the pulsation of the force-pump in 
the captain’s cabin, where that worthy and a 
trusty sailor were taking turns at the handle. 

“ ‘Now, gentleman,’ I went on, ‘two courses are 
open for you: You can settle with the govern- 
ment by paying the full duties for all that you 
have smuggled, or your ships will be confiscated, 
and each one of you who has been concerned in the 
performance will go to prison. Warrants have 
been sworn out for your arrest, and the officers 
are waiting on the dock to take you in, when I 
give the word. What shall it be ? ’ 

“It was a hard case, as the duties made an 
enormous bill, but prison walls are not pleasant 
to contemplate, even in imagination. The case 
was settled, but it took a great deal of money, 


A CHEMICAL DETECTIVE. 


313 


and led ultimately to the failure of an important 
business house that had 
been highly reputed. 

“The terms of the compro- 
mise were that the affair 
should not be made public, 
and you ’ll bear in mind 
that I haven’t given ^^ou 
any of the real names of 
men or ships, from the 
beginning to the end of my 
story. 

“The Minerve and Junon 
ceased to visit the port of 
New York. Stop! The Mi- 
nerve came in with her tank 
filled with brandy, her cap- 
tain all unsuspecting of dan- 
ger, as the crafty Jacques, 
fearing a possible ‘leak’ in 
the French telegraph-office, 
had put off sending his tel- 
egram to me until she went 

“I received my moiety, made a liberal division 
with Burton, and the good fellow was able to buy 
a nice little cottage in the suburbs, and set up 
housekeeping in the style that suited him and his 
charming little wife. I stuck to my bachelor 
ways, but I always have a room with the Bur- 



314 


THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF. 


tons whenever I ean find time to oeeupy it. Bur- 
ton is the ehemist for half a dozen establishments 
that steadily need his serviees, and he is doing 
well, but he often says the best stroke of work he 
ever did in his life was when he found the trace of 
iron in the brandy .” — [New York Ledger 


THE END. 



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